


Betrothed

by All_The_Feels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Loss of Virginity, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Tropes Aplenty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:55:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 61,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8918554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_The_Feels/pseuds/All_The_Feels
Summary: What if King Prana had an ulterior motive when he sent Han Solo out looking for rathtars? And what if that ulterior motive had to do with his own obsession with Princess Leia? While visiting for what was supposed to be a diplomatic mission, Rey, General Organa, and Poe find themselves held prisoner at King Prana's palace. When the news reaches Kylo Ren, he is NOT happy about this development.Not the arranged marriage fic that you might be expecting.





	1. Standard Operating Procedures

Kylo Ren picked through the remains of the encampment on Ahch-To. The previous residents had clearly departed in a hurry--leaving bits of clothing, bedding, and cooking utensils scattered around the huts and common area where they had apparently been residing. He waved his hand over the ashes in the firepit and found that they were still warm. In frustration, he heaved an iron pot at one of the huts with enough force to chip the hut’s stonework. 

“What?” he asked flatly, glancing around at the Knights of Ren, who had accompanied him on this mission and were standing around looking uncomfortable. To have come so close and yet failed was unthinkable. He kicked a pile of firewood, still livid. If he had arrived even a few hours earlier, he would have stood a good chance of intercepting his targets. However, with hyperspace travel, who knows where the scavenger and his uncle were now. 

“They’re not here. Shall we pull out?” one of the Knights asked.

Kylo glared at the Knight in response, wishing for once that his anger wasn’t hidden behind the mask that he wore. “Not yet. Do one more thorough search of the island. I want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned, in case they left any clue as to their next destination.”

As the Knights dispersed to continue their searches, Kylo took it upon himself to inspect the beehive-shaped stone huts that Luke and Rey had clearly been using as personal quarters. The first hut that Kylo stopped in contained a bedroll that had been made with a few blankets whose edges had been tucked beneath the thin mattress. A lantern sat at the foot of the bedroll, and several old Jedi texts were stacked neatly next to the end with small pillow. This hut had unmistakably belonged to his uncle. Of course, Luke would regard Jedi history books as bedtime reading material.

The next two huts that Kylo poked his head into revealed no signs of any prior occupants. The contents of the fourth hut, however, made Kylo gasp with excitement. Immediately, he zeroed in on the unmade bedroll on the floor and its accompanying blankets that had been pushed or kicked to the foot. 

Quickly, and as inconspicuously as possible, he surveyed the rest of the area around the huts, making sure that he was out of sight of the rest of the Knights. Fully aware of how pathetic his next action would appear, he laid down on the bedroll that had been slept in by Rey and pulled the blankets up to his face. The blankets still  _ smelled _ of her, which served as a harsh reminder that she had slept in this very bed as recently as this morning. If they hadn’t fled; if they had only stayed and Rey had heard him out, was there a possibility that she would have shared this bedroll with him, eventually? He knew that he had a lot of ground to make up with Rey, but she had been inside his head, and while she knew that he had done horrible things, she also had to know that he wasn’t a bad person. Besides, he knew that he needed her help, and what better way to sway her to his side than to seduce her?

Wistfully, he surveyed the interior of the hut and noted that whereas his uncle had a stack of textbooks next to his bedside, Rey had left a small basket of recently-picked wildflowers next to hers. He sifted through the basket of flowers, noting that Rey’s harvest included a wide array of different types and colors of flowers. A few tools were scattered around at the foot of her bed, along with a few pieces of metal and a chipboard--obvious remnants of some engineering project that she had been working on and abandoned in her haste to evacuate. 

Kylo sat up and kicked the blankets off. How had he misjudged Rey so badly? He wasn’t so deluded to think that he was seldom wrong; he had been wrong about many, many things, but he had been so  _ sure _ about Rey. She was have been a kindred spirit of his, even if she was in denial about it. He’d sensed it in the forest on Takodana and became even more confident once he’d actually looked inside her mind on Starkiller Base. He thought, no, he  _ knew _ that she had sensed it, too; however, she had chosen to ignore their connection. And then on that cliff’s edge, he’d offered her the Force in a gesture of unity, and instead she took his gift and turned around and physically maimed him with it. He should hate her for it, but instead, the scar that she’d given him had only made him more determined to make her see things his way and to convince her to join him. She wouldn’t be able to run forever.

 

***

 

_ Two weeks later… _

Rey sat in the Millennium Falcon cockpit as a co-pilot to Poe Dameron with General Leia Organa in the passenger seat.

Sighing, Rey lamented, “I wish that Chewie could have come with us.”

“What? Am I not a good enough co-pilot for you?” Poe joked.

Rey rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Shaking her head, General Organa responded, “We’ve been over this before. Based on our previous dealings with King Prana, I didn’t feel that it was safe to bring Chewie.”

“I just can’t imagine a situation where Chewie wouldn’t be able to handle himself. Plus, he could be a huge help to us if King Prana is as untrustworthy as you’ve said,” Rey sighed.

“Trust me, Rey. If anything went wrong, King Prana would capture Chewbacca and place him in his personal zoo so fast that your head would spin. We need to be careful.” General Organa replied tersely.

Frowning, Rey asked “If King Prana is so awful, why are we trying to form an alliance with him?”

“Because his planet, Rinou, has a lot of resources. They not only have manufacturing facilities that we can use, several regions have mines and other natural resources that we’re sorely lacking. We’re also more likely to draw recruits from the planet if we’re in an alliance with them in some official capacity.”

“Gee, General, you speak so positively of this guy,” Poe quipped. “Even with all of his resources, is he someone that we’d even want as an ally?”

“Poe, the Resistance will take what it can get at this point. And King Prana actually approached  _ us _ about this alliance.” General Organa’s gaze moved towards the viewport, watching as they passed through the blue streaks of hyperspace.

Poe snorted. “And what does King Prana get out of this? From what you’ve told me about him, surely, he isn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart.”

The General shook her head, “No, no, I’m sure that he’s not. However, that’s why we’re heading there to negotiate. If his asking price is too high, we walk away.”

Rey turned in her seat towards the General. “Why couldn’t we negotiate via holochat like normal people?”

The General sighed again. “King Prana insisted on holding the negotiations in person. As a leader, I made the judgment call that it would be worth the inconvenience, considering the potential payoff.”

“And you’re sure that we’re not walking into a trap?”

“There’s no way to be completely sure,” the General leaned back in her chair, “but King Prana has no love for the First Order. That’s why he’s maintained Rinou’s independence for all of this time. Now, as far as why he chose now to offer to help us, I have no idea.”

“What’s Rinou like?” Rey asked. She’d had such little opportunity to travel that she was curious about every planet that she might visit. Until recently, she had never left Jakku that she had recalled. Since then, she’d brief visits to Takodana, D’Qar, and Ahch-To, where her attempts to get Luke Skywalker to train her in the ways of the Force had recently been cut short by the General’s son.

A slight smile formed on the General’s face. “It’s probably like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Parts of it are jungle territory, but it has modern cities, as well. We’ll be staying at King Prana’s palace, and if we get in and out of there as quickly as I hope, I doubt that we’ll see much of the planet outside of the palace walls.”

“What’s the story with his zoo?” Poe twisted around to better join the conversation.

The General laughed, “To be blunt, it basically started as a pissing contest between King Prana and Regent Solculvis from the Mol’leaj system.”

Rey’s face lit up. She exclaimed, “That’s what he wanted the rathtars for!”

“Rathtars?” Poe made a face like he’d swallowed something bitter.

Rey nodded with excitement. “Yes! When we ran into...” she paused and glanced cautiously over to the General. “...when Finn and I first encountered Han and Chewie, they were delivering a shipment of rathtars to King Prana. Nasty creatures. One of them nearly ate Finn.”

General Organa’s eyes widened. “Han was transporting rathtars? For King Prana? He hated King Prana.” Her expression became grim. “I had no idea that he had become so desperate…” she added softly.

Rey reached over and placed her hand on the older woman’s arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stir anything up…”

The General lightly patted Rey’s hand and then lightly removed it from her arm. As quick as it had appeared, all emotion disappeared from the General’s face. “It doesn’t accomplish anything to dwell on those things. I need to get past what happened and move on.”

Trying to lighten the mood, Poe asked, “So, um, does King Prana have anything else interesting in this zoo?”

General Organa laughed. “I’m sure that he does, and I don’t mean that in a good way. I was completely serious when I said that he wanted to add Chewie to his collection.”

Rey shuddered. What sort of a person was this? As desperate as the Resistance was for resources right now, was it worth whatever King Prana’s price was likely to be?

Several indicators on the Falcon’s navigation system lit up. Poe checked a few coordinates and announced, “Rey, we’re going to just be cruising through hyperspace for the next few hours. If you want to try to take a nap or something, go ahead.”

Rey nodded and excused herself from the cockpit. She headed back to the crew quarters, and to the bunk that she had claimed as her own.

Sitting down on the bed, she flipped open the personal holopad that had been issued to her by the Resistance. Rey typed in an access code to contact her friend, Finn. Finn hadn’t been able to accompany her and Poe on this mission because he was still on a strict physical therapy schedule after having been wounded by Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base. Patiently, she listened as the connection chimed on the other end. Eventually, the holopad informed her that Finn was not answering and prompted her to leave a message. Rey sighed, put a smile on her face to disguise her apprehension about her mission, and recorded a quick holomessage for Finn.

She clicked the holopad shut and laid back on her bunk, staring at the ceiling. Rey couldn’t believe the turn that her life had taken in the past six weeks. She’d gone from being a scavenger, nearly starving on Jakku, to learning that she was gifted with strong Force powers and being chased by Kylo Ren, to being welcomed by the Resistance, with the reassurance from Luke that she could continue her Force training as time permitted.

Closing her eyes, Rey tried to take Poe’s advice and allow herself to drift off to sleep. She had never had an easy time sleeping, and her insomnia had been exacerbated by her erratic sleep schedule of the past few weeks. She tried to picture Finn’s face, but unfortunately, the face that kept appearing in her mind belonged to Kylo Ren. The memory of his face, as he’d unmasked for her in the interrogation chamber, seemed to be permanently seared into her consciousness. She couldn’t escape his perfect, black, wavy hair...or those dark soulful eyes...or those sinfully full lips. To be frank, her thoughts about his lips embarrassed her--before he had invaded her mind, Rey had briefly thought that perhaps he was going to kiss her. And for a split second, she’d wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips before she came to her senses and chased that thought from her head.   


Rey had been in his head. She’d seen that he was just as lonely as she was and had nearly the same desire to feel like he belonged somewhere as she did. She’d seen that he  _ did _ want to go home, even though he didn’t think that he would be accepted. Out of anger over his violation of her personal thoughts and privacy, she’d spat his deepest fear back at him. And then, after she’d escaped, he’d done the unthinkable...when his father, Han Solo, had pleaded with him to come home, Kylo reacted by murdering him. However, if Rey wasn’t already convinced that Kylo was a walking contradiction, when they’d fought in the forest as Rey and Finn tried to escape, he’d offered to teach her...in fact, he’d actually nudged the Force towards her, which she in turn was able to use to defeat him.

Opening her eyes, she tried to push thoughts of Kylo out of her mind. She was sure that they’d cross paths again, but for this upcoming trip to Rinou, he would not be the focus of her thoughts.

 

***

 

Poe guided the Falcon in to land in a protected hangar just outside of the palace walls. As the threesome of Rey, Poe, and Leia disembarked from the ship, they were met by a group of six armed royal guards. The guards wore ornate purple jackets and pants, resembling fancy military uniforms. Her rucksack containing her holodeck and a few changes of clothes slung over her shoulder, Rey immediately noted how the group from the Resistance was outnumbered. 

The threesome was led through a covered walkway to a secure gate that required two of the guards to simultaneously have their handprints scanned before the group was granted entrance. 

“Is everything here this secure?” Rey wondered out loud, not hiding the bit of nervousness in her voice.

One of the guards replied, “King Prana is very concerned with the safety of all of his citizens who live and work within the palace walls.”

“Oh good,” Poe commented dryly. “It’s reassuring to hear that we’ll be safe here.”

The scanner beeped, acknowledging the validation of the guards’ handprints. A door slid open, and the guards ushered them through into a huge open courtyard.

Rey gasped. She had never seen anything like this place. They were led down a path through a very large garden that was full of exotic flowers and other types of plants. While they walked, every so often, Rey could see a small furry orange animal occasionally peek out and stalking through the greenery. When she’d occasionally make eye contact, the animal would quickly duck back into the leaves, vanishing until Rey spotted it again.

Eventually, the path through the garden morphed into a path through a small marketplace, where vendors had set up stalls selling fresh produce, breads, cheeses, and cooked foods, among other items. Rey had a strong urge to stop and browse the various food stalls--especially those that seemed to be offering samples, but the guards escorting them walked at a brisk pace and seemed intent on getting the Resistance group to their destination as quickly as possible.

Finally, they were led to another secure door. Again, the door required two guards scanning their handprints at the same time to gain entry. The door slid open, the group marched through, and the door immediately slid shut again. Rey flinched as she heard a locking mechanism bolt the door back into place. 

The guards led the group down a long hallway that was lined alternately with tapestries and holopics. Rey found that they were then led down a maze of other, smaller hallways with lots of turns, sometimes leading them up staircases and sometimes down staircases. Although she tried to commit their route to memory, she knew that she’d quickly get lost here if she was trying to find her way without someone to guide her. Well, she could always try to use the Force to guide her, she surmised. Too bad that she was barely trained and that her mentor had elected to stay back at the Resistance base. 

Once Rey was convinced that she was completely lost, the guards ushered her, Poe, and General Organa into a small room.

“Hand over your weapons, please. We don’t allow them in the throne room,” one of the guards held out his hand waiting for everyone to hand over their blasters. Rey looked to the General and Poe who both handed over their blasters without betraying any emotion. Begrudgingly, Rey did the same. 

“And the lightsaber,” the guard added.

Rey looked to Poe and the General; she had hoped that the guard wouldn’t be able to identify the weapon clipped to her belt.

“Go ahead, Rey. It’s just standard protocol,” General Organa reassured her.

Rey hesitated another minute, then finally handed over her lightsaber, never lifting her glare from her face the entire time.

“Are you right-handed or left-handed?” the guard asked.

“Left-handed,” Rey answered with suspicion.

“Please extend your right arm,” instructed the guard.

Rey slowly extended her right arm. The guard grabbed her hand and fastened a thin, metal bracelet around her wrist. A thin strip of lights ran around the circumference of the bracelet.

“What is that?” Rey asked.

“It’s a tracker,” the guard replied. “King Prana requests that all of his guests wear them.” He continued, “While you’re enjoying your stay here, you’ll be free to explore the unrestricted parts of the palace. However, if you attempt to move into restricted space, your bracelet will beep, and you will be removed from the area by an armed escort.”

Rey lifted her wrist to eye level, examining the tracker bracelet. She wondered how she might be able to remove it.

“Don’t you think this is all a bit overkill?” Poe chimed in. “We’re on a diplomatic mission and don’t expect to be here for more than a day or two.”

“Nothing is overkill when it comes to protecting the safety of King Prana and the inhabitants of this palace,” the guard stated sternly. He suddenly noticed Rey eyeing her bracelet and added, “Don’t try to remove it. There’s a small explosive device implanted in the cuff that will explode if anyone other than authorized personnel tries to remove it.”

“O-ver-kill,” Poe enunciated sarcastically.

“You’re next,” the guard turned to Poe. 

Poe rolled his eyes and offered his arm to the guard, who promptly fastened a cuff to his wrist. General Organa reluctantly offered her wrist, which was quickly cuffed as well. 

With all three human members of their party now wearing tracker bracelets, Poe rubbed his hands together in mock excitement and exclaimed. “Okay, now let’s meet King Prana!”

The guards nodded at each other and guided the Resistance members out of the security room. 

The General shook her head and muttered something unintelligible under her breath. She then addressed the guard, “So, now can we see the King?”

The guard shook his head, “Not yet.” He retrieved a commlink from somewhere within his robes. “Yorra, they’re ready.”

The door to the security room opened, and a Togruta woman wearing a white labcoat entered carrying a small, black case. Rey watched as she set up a small device on a table off to the side of the room. “Who’s first?” the Togruta asked.

“What’s that for?” Poe asked.

“I need to obtain a small blood sample from each of you,” she replied sternly.

“You already have trackers on each of us. What do you need our blood for?” Poe eyed the woman suspiciously.

“We do a quick scan for communicable diseases.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” the General blurted out. “I’ve been to this palace probably a dozen times in the past, and I’ve never had to give a blood sample before!” 

The Togruta gave the General a stern look. “Look, I wanted to be discreet about this, but it’s current standard operating procedure for all guests.”

“Why?”

Sighing, the Togruta continued. “King Prana wants to ensure that all of his guests enjoy themselves while they stay within the palace confines. For many guests, that includes...interacting...with some of the palace inhabitants in such a manner that we want to be proactive about treating any communicable diseases that you might be bringing in.”

The General rolled her eyes and raised her voice. “I can assure you that neither Poe nor Rey will be fucking anyone in this palace while we’re here.”

“We’ll see.” The Togruta pursed her lips. “Now, who wants to go first?”

Trying to break the tension, Poe joked, “Well, I’m probably the one here that this most likely applies to, so I’ll go first.” He stepped forward and walked over to the device on the table.

“Hand, please,” the Togruta instructed. 

Poe offered his hand, and the Togruta guided it into an opening on the device. An indicator light turned on, almost immediately followed by Poe yelping, then the indicator light turned blue.

“All done,” the Togruta smiled at him. “Now was that so bad?”

Poe removed his hand and rubbed his finger. He looked at Rey, “It only hurts for a second.”

Rey took her turn after Poe. As expected, the sharp pain from the finger prick only lasted a second.

Finally, General Organa took her turn. She looked at the Togruta, making sure that the woman understood that the General disagreed with this on every level. “I am only doing this because of what we stand to gain by negotiating with the King. Under no circumstances will I or anyone else on my team be sleeping with anyone here.”

Ignoring her comment, the Togruta instructed, “Hand, please.”

Reluctantly, the General complied.

With the group now wearing trackers and having given blood samples, the General asked again, “ _ Now _ , can we see the King?”

The guard nodded. “Yes, now we may take you to see the King.”

 

***

 

The security room surprisingly turned out to be only a short walk away from the throne room, which was sealed with an ornately decorated set of wooden doors that rose from the floor to the raised ceiling of the hall. The group was stopped at the wooden doors while a guard pulled out a commlink, and simply said, “They’re here.”

The guard listened for a second, then announced to the Resistance trio, “You’ve been cleared for entry. Stand back.”

General Organa, Poe, and Rey all took several steps back as the huge wooden doors swung open towards them. Cautiously, as prompted by the two lead guards, Rey stepped into the throne room. With her eyes, she followed the path of a red carpet that started at the doors and ended on a platform that was set atop a short set of stairs. On the platform sat King Prana on his throne.  


	2. A Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, Poe, and General Organa meet King Prana and learn the real reason why they were invited to his palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We kicked off our story in the last chapter, where Kylo narrowly missed intercepting Rey and Luke on Ahch-To. A few weeks later, Rey joined Poe and General Organa on a diplomatic mission to negotiate an alliance with King Prana. Before even being permitted to see the King, the Resistance trio is subjected to some rather unorthodox "security measures," including being forced to wear GPS tracker cuffs. Rey has a bad feeling about this.

King Prana gestured wildly towards the Resistance members as they entered the throne room.

“Come in! Come in! Please, come in and join me, my guests!” The King declared excitedly.

Rey was immediately struck by how gruff the King’s voice was. He also had a noticeable accent that seemed only vaguely familiar, even with her many years of frequenting Niima Outpost on Jakku, where she frequently interacted with various traders, smugglers, and other travelers. Apparently, residents of the planet Rinou rarely made visits to Jakku.

Glancing around hesitantly at Poe and General Organa, Rey waited for one of them to lead the way. General Organa nodded, and then proceeded to walk confidently down the red carpet that divided the throne room as Rey and Poe followed several feet behind her. 

Attempting not to gawk, a wide-eyed Rey tried to take in her surroundings as the group proceeded down the carpet towards the throne. The large chamber had vaulted ceilings with a glass ceiling, giving it the feel of an atrium, and seemed to serve a dual purpose of throne room and a recreation area where some of the other palace residents were idly passing time. To her left, relaxing on and around a chaise lounge and ottoman were two young men and two young women, roughly Rey’s age, and rather scantily clad, while a young man strummed a guitar and sang softly. To Rey’s right, another group of young people sat on an array of cushions and pillows, playing some sort of card game. Rey mentally noted that some--but not all--of the people that they had walked passed were also wearing tracker bracelets similar to the ones that she, Poe, and the General wore. She held back a frown at the observation. Trackers or not, everyone appeared to be quite relaxed. Rey couldn’t imagine ever feeling relaxed under these conditions.

Glancing over to Poe, Rey tried to gauge his reaction. He appeared to be stifling a smirk. “Ever see anything like this on Jakku?” he whispered to her.

Rey shook her head. “It’s like something out of some crazy holobook.”

The General turned around and frowned at Rey and Poe, making it clear that she didn’t approve of their whispering. Complying with the General’s unstated order, Rey remained silent for the rest of the walk as they approached King Prana as he reclined on this throne. 

General Organa paused at the steps leading up to the platform for King Prana’s throne. The King sat silently for a minute, his eyes roving over each member of the Resistance trio. Finally, he stood up, opened his arms, and loudly declared, “Princess Leia!”

He strode down the steps to meet General Organa, who he then immediately threw his arms around in an overly enthusiastic embrace. The gesture clearly caught the General off-guard, and she failed to disguise the surprise on her face.

Rey studied the King as he pressed General Organa to his body; he wore no crown. King Prana appeared to be in his late 60’s and was dressed in a bright purple cape, which he wore over a white tunic and pants, which were decorated with gold accents. His hair was an unnatural white-blond color, and although he appeared to be balding, one section of his hair had been grown longer to compensate for his thinning hair and was combed over the top of his head. Additionally, the King’s skin was an unnatural shade of orange, and as Rey noticed, his hands appeared to be unusually small for his stature. 

Finally, King Prana released the General, took a single step backwards, and openly looked the General’s body up and down. Poe and Rey exchanged glances; they weren’t used to seeing the leader of the Resistance treated like this.

The General maintained a neutral expression and stated, “Thank you, Your Highness, for hosting us.”

The King walked past the General and visually assessed both Poe and Rey then declared, “Well, I can see why you stick with the Resistance these days. These two are definitely far easier on the eyes than a typical Senator.”

King Prana’s gaze made Rey feel uncomfortable. Without thinking about it, she stepped closer to Poe. 

“And who might this beautiful young woman be?” the King declared, as he zeroed in on Rey, causing her to shrink further towards Poe.

Unsure what the proper etiquette was under these circumstances, Rey bowed slightly and replied, “My name is Rey.”

Apparently not caring about proper etiquette, Poe simply extended his hand to the King. “I’m Poe Dameron. Rey and I are General Organa’s pilots.”

The King shook Poe’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of our Princess.”

King Prana turned his attention back to Rey, who he looked over again. “If you ever get tired of flying that old bucket of bolts around the galaxy for the Princess, let me know. I would be more than happy to welcome you to join us here.”

Rey cringed, then quickly recovered her composure. “Thank you for the generous offer, but I quite enjoy flying.”

“Fair enough,” the King replied. “However, during your stay here, I hope that my hospitality will be able to convince you otherwise. You would certainly enjoy a more luxurious lifestyle here.”

General Organa cleared her throat. “King Prana. Is there somewhere that you would like to begin the negotiations?”

The King turned around, returning his attention to the General. “Oh Leia, you’re still all business, aren’t you? Just like old times.”

“This is hardly a pleasure trip for us,” the General coldly replied.

“Oh, but it should be,” the King grinned. “In any case, I don’t think that we’ll be able to work through all of the negotiation points in an afternoon. With that in mind, I had my staff prepare guest quarters for each of you.”

“I really don’t think that will be necessary,” General Organa frowned.

“Nonsense. I think that we would all feel better about this potential alliance if we’re all comfortable with and able to trust each other, don’t you? To that end, I would like for the three of you to be my guests for the next few days, as we get to know each other.”

General Organa sighed, “Fine. But I want our flexibility in this regard to be noted during negotiations.”

“It will be duly noted,” the King reassured her. “And on that note, I would like to extend a dinner invitation to everyone tonight. On anticipation of your arrival, I arranged for our chefs prepare an exquisite meal for you all.”

“That would be lovely. Thank you.” 

The King turned around and motioned at three young women who had been standing on the throne platform during the entire exchange. Ranging in age from their late teens to their early 30’s, the women made their way down the steps and stood behind the King.

“These are three of my daughters. They will show you to your quarters and explain the various amenities that will be available to you as our guests.”

The General thanked him again for his hospitality, and she, Rey, and Poe were escorted out of the throne room by the three young women.

 

***

Rey, Poe, and General Organa followed King Prana’s daughters out of the throne room and down a series of corridors. Once again, Rey had the uncomfortable feeling that she could easily get lost in this palace. She assured herself that this should be a relatively easy mission--negotiate whatever alliance between the Resistance and Rinou, and get out of there quickly, right? It wasn’t like they were going to have to deal with the First Order in any of this.

A tall, brunette daughter who appeared to be a few years older than Rey stopped the Resistance group at a T-intersection. “We’ll be temporarily parting ways here,” she announced. “I’ll be leading the pilot to his quarters this way.” She motioned to the left branch of the T. “The quarters for the Princess and the co-pilot are down that hall,” she took Poe’s arm and motioned to the right branch of the T. 

Rey watched as the woman guided Poe down the hall. Poe looked back over his shoulder with a grin and a shrug.

“Stay out of trouble,” General Organa warned, partially joking, as Poe was led out of sight.

One of the two remaining daughters, a statuesque blonde, turned to General Organa. “Please, follow me.” She motioned for Rey and the General to follow her as the third daughter walked silently by her side.

After walking for a few more minutes, they came to a large set of durasteel double doors.

“Princess Leia,” the blonde woman gave a slight bow. “King Prana has prepared the royal suite for you, if you’ll come with me.”

“That really isn’t necessary,” General Organa protested.

“Please, my father insisted. We offer the same hospitality to all visiting royalty.”

The General simply flashed a skeptical look to the young woman and allowed herself to be led through the double doors.

As the General and the blonde daughter disappeared into the suite, the remaining daughter, who was petite with olive skin and black hair, turned to Rey. “Hi, I’m Sulalle.”

“I’m Rey,” Rey extended her hand to the girl, who was several inches shorter and appeared to be at least a year or two younger than herself.

Sulalle stopped in front of another set of durasteel doors. An electronic control panel with a touchscreen pad was embedded in the stone wall next to the door. The girl tapped a few keys and then pressed her hand to the touchscreen. The monitor beeped.

“Place your hand on the touchscreen,” Sulalle instructed. “You’ll need to initialize a handprint scan so that you can open your door on your own.”

Rey pressed her hand to the touchpad. “So, I won’t be kept a prisoner in my room?” she joked.

Sulalle smiled sweetly at her. “Hopefully not.”

Rey frowned. She had to be joking, right?

The scanner beeped. “Remove your hand, please,” Sulalle requested. Rey did as she was asked, and Sulalle tapped a few more keys on the touchpad. “Okay, you should be good to go now. Place your hand back on the scanner, and the door should open.”

Rey placed her hand on the scanner. The control panel beeped, and the door slid open, revealing the guest quarters that had been assigned to Rey.

Stepping into the room with Sulalle on her heels, Rey couldn’t hide her shock at the opulence of the room and its furnishings. In the center of the room sat the largest bed that Rey had ever seen. Against one wall was a chest of drawers and a tall, standing wardrobe. The wall across from the entrance had the room’s only window. Rey walked over to the window, which had no screen or lock, easily allowing her to open it. She poked her head out of the window, peering out, and was immediately struck by how high up she was. Her room must be at least four or five stories up, with a wall to the grounds nearly immediately below her window, and a view of the surrounding forest and mountains beyond that wall. 

“Rey?”

Rey snapped out of her thoughts and turned around. Sulalle stood next to the standing wardrobe. Once she had Rey’s attention, Sulalle opened the wardrobe doors and motioned for Rey to join her.

Rey walked over to the wardrobe, and was stunned yet again. At least a half dozen gowns hung at one end of the rack. At the other end hung an equal number of less-formal day dresses.

“Dinner tonight will be a formal affair. My father requests that you and your party be attired properly.” Sulalle selected a long, emerald green gown and held it up to Rey. “I think that this would be lovely on you. The color will be very flattering to your complexion.”

Rey took the dress and gasped. “Are you sure? I’d be afraid to wear this to dinner in case I spill something on it!” She tried to hide her surprise with a joke.

“Everything in these wardrobes is yours to keep. Consider it all to be a gift from my father.”

Stunned, Rey didn’t know what to say. They were only supposed to be here for a few days, at most. There was no way that she could accept a gift of an entire wardrobe of high-end clothing. On top of that, when she left, where would she ever have the occasion to wear these things again? Galas weren’t exactly regular occurrences on the Resistance base.

Sulalle continued the tour of Rey’s room, walking over to the chest of drawers. She pulled open the top drawer. “Lingerie and undergarments are in the top drawer.”

“Lingerie? Why would I need lingerie?” Rey couldn’t believe how weird this whole situation was.

Sulalle placed a hand on Rey’s arm. “We do have many attractive young men--or young women, if that’s your preference--who reside in the palace. My father encourages socialization--it keeps the residents and guests both happy.”

Rey was beginning to find Sulalle’s demeanor unnerving. Rey wasn’t a prude--she got a kick out of hearing Poe and the other pilots talk about their various escapades, but the environment here seemed excessive. 

Sulalle cleared her throat to regain Rey’s attention and pulled out the middle drawer. “Casual clothing is in this drawer. You won’t be expected to wear formal attire your entire stay here. I expect that whatever meetings you attend for negotiations, you’ll be permitted to wear more comfortable clothing.”

“Right,” Rey nodded. 

Sulalle’s attention then turned to a rack of shoes and boots. “Footwear is here. If you need help pairing shoes or boots with an outfit, someone can assist you.” She then walked over to a small comm center that was mounted to the wall. “You can tap through the touch screen to view the directory. We have staff who can help you with anything at any hour of the day or night.”

“Thank you.”

Sulalle walked to doorway that was off of the other side wall of the room. “The ‘fresher is in there.” Rey scurried over to see what a ‘fresher looked like in a place like this. Sulalle continued. “You’ve got a standalone shower, a jetted bathtub, and…” she paused, opening a medicine cabinets that was filled with small compacts, brushes, and jars, “a selection of cosmetics to compliment your complexion for formal dress occasions.”

“Mmm, thanks,” Rey replied. This was all way, way too much. She was supposed to wear a formal gown and makeup to dinner tonight? She’d never worn makeup before in her life; she wasn’t even sure she’d know what paint or powder to put where on her face.

Sulalle made her way back to the entrance to Rey’s quarters. “I think that’s about everything for now. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to use the comm. Dinner is scheduled to start at 2000 hours tonight. Someone will stop by a few minutes before that to escort you to the dining room.”

“Got it,” Rey nodded. 

Sulalle turned and exited Rey’s room. Rey plopped down on the bed and exhaled, feeling completely overwhelmed. She checked the holocron on the wall and was relieved to see that she’d have several hours to relax and get cleaned up before having to deal with the formal dinner party that was apparently facing her that night. 

Flopping onto her back, Rey stared up at the ceiling for several minutes. She hadn’t thought that she’d be doing anything more than tagging along after General Organa on what was supposed to be a diplomatic negotiation. She hadn’t expected to deal with formal dinners, weird security measures, or an apparently lecherous king as part of the deal. The best case scenario would be that negotiations would go well tonight, and she could still get out of here relatively quickly. She missed the companionship among the Resistance members she’d found once she and Luke had returned to the Resistance after evacuating Ahch-To. 

If Rey was being truthful, she had been secretly relieved to get chased from Ahch-To. Being alone on the island (and the planet as far as she knew) had been awkward. Luke didn’t talk much, and Rey’s isolation there rivaled her isolation on Jakku, but at least on Jakku, she occasionally enjoyed the company of travelers or other scavengers. On Ahch-To, however, Luke had expected her to spend hours meditating and levitating small objects, even though she’d successfully performed more advanced skills on Starkiller Base. That morning, when Luke had told her that he sensed Kylo Ren’s impending arrival, she was all too happy to help pack up their things and fly back to the Resistance base.

Still laying on the bed, Rey pulled her satchel to her and felt around inside. Thankfully, her holopad hadn’t been found, or at least, it hadn’t been confiscated from her. She considered sending a message to Finn, but then decided against it. What would she say? Her description of their current situation would likely worry him, and Rey didn’t want to needlessly worry her friend until she had better assessed if she, General Organa, and Poe were truly in any sort of trouble, or whether their extended stay here would simply be an annoyance.

Eventually, Rey found the energy to sit up and slide off the bed. She shuffled over to the ‘fresher, turned on the shower, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the water heated up nearly instantly. Quickly, she shed her Resistance uniform, tossing the individual pieces into a pile on the ‘fresher floor. With a sigh, she stepped into the shower and allowed herself to finally relax blissfully under the flow of the hot water.

 

***

 

As she had been told, one of King Prana’s assistants knocked on Rey’s door at 1950 hours to escort her to the dining room. 

“Where are General Organa and Poe?” Rey asked as she entered the dining room, slightly concerned that neither of her colleagues were present yet.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be here shortly,” the assistant assured her before exiting the room, leaving Rey standing by herself at one end of a long, formal dining table.

King Prana sat at the opposite end of the table. He was flanked by two armed guards and was speaking with a man with a holocamera around his neck and a datapad in his hand. The King smiled as he noticed Rey.

“Rey, please come over and join us!” the King declared, enthusiastically waving Rey over to his side of the table.

Cautiously, Rey walked the distance of the table and stood in front of the King. She glanced back over her shoulder, feeling apprehensive about being alone in a room with this man. Trying to follow the crash course in etiquette that the General had briefed her on in the Falcon, Rey bowed slightly and said quietly, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

The King leaned forward and took Rey’s hands in his own. “I have known Princess Leia for many years, and she clearly thinks very highly of you. While we are waiting for the others to arrive, I would love to learn more about who you are. Rey, please, tell me a bit about yourself.”

Rey looked around nervously, hoping that the General or Poe would magically appear. When they did not, she cleared her throat and began, “Well, there’s not much to tell. I, um, I grew up on Jakku, and I joined up with the Resistance about two months ago.”

King Prana smiled and shook his head. “Uh-uh. There’s more to the story than that. You wouldn’t be flying Princess Leia around and accompanying her on missions if you were just some new Resistance recruit from Jakku.” He studied her, looking her up and down. “How old are you?”

“Twenty,” Rey replied. Why was he asking her this?

“You are very beautiful. Did you live on Jakku your entire life?”

Not wanting to give the King any more information than necessary, Rey simply responded, “No, but I’d lived there since I was a young child.” She briefly toyed with the idea of peeking inside of the King’s head--something that she hadn’t done to anyone since her encounter with Kylo Ren on Starkiller--try to figure out where the King was going with this line of questioning.

The King nodded at someone at the other end of the table. Suddenly, the guard picked up glass goblet from his end of the table and hurled it at Rey. Without thinking, Rey’s hand shot behind her back and caught the goblet.

King Prana chuckled. “You have very quick reflexes.”

Rey sat the goblet down on the table and eyed the King suspiciously. “I suppose so.”

The King laughed again, grabbed Rey’s arms and pulled her towards him, guiding her so that she was practically sitting on his knee. Rey tried to get up and pull away, but the King’s grip was firm.

“Elos, please, can you take a holopic of me and my new friend here?” King Prana asked the man with the camera.

Rey squirmed. “I really don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Nonsense! I want to capture this moment,” he ran his hands up and down Rey’s bare arms. “I’d love to have a picture of just the two of us before your friends arrive. Now smile.”

Rey smiled for the camera, unsure what else to do. 

The photographer took several photos as Rey helplessly looked to the doorway, hoping that General Organa would arrive to rescue her from this situation. Finally, Rey saw the General being escorted through the doorway, causing King Prana to release his hold on Rey, who then scrambled out of reach of the King. The King welcomed Princess Leia to dinner and instructed her to sit in the chair to his right and instructed Rey to sit in the chair to his left, directly across from the General.

The General smiled at Rey as she sat down. “Rey, you look lovely this evening.”

“Thank you, General. You look great, too.” Rey returned the compliment then wondered if there was any way that she’d be able to catch a moment alone with the General to discuss what had happened with King Prana a few moments ago. It had been weird and uncomfortable. Not that Rey couldn’t handle herself, but she also didn’t want to needlessly object to something if the weirdness was all in her head; she couldn’t put their mission at risk. 

Escorted by one of the King’s aides, Poe finally entered the dining room. As directed, he sat next to Rey. The aide then took a seat next to General Organa. 

“Welcome!” King Prana greeted everyone. “I am honored to host you here on Rinou as my guests.”  The King waved over a server, who poured goblets of wine for everyone at the table, then served the first course--slices of crusty bread topped with some sort savory chopped vegetable spread that Rey was unfamiliar with.

Self-conscious about her inexperience with formal dining, Rey sat quietly and picked at her food through dinner as King Prana and General Organa conversed. The fact that King Prana refused to call the General by her current title and insisted on calling her “Princess Leia” did not escape Rey. 

What felt like course after course of delicacy after delicacy was served to the dining party. Not surprisingly, the wine flowed freely, as well. Rey made sure to drink slowly, often holding her goblet to her lips but not drinking. With her discomfort with King Prana, Rey didn’t want to ingest anything that might impair her judgment. Sighing to herself, she wondered when the actual negotiations for an alliance would begin--anything to get her out of here as quickly as possible.

Eventually, the servers brought out dessert, depositing a small flaming dish in front of each member of the dinner party. Rey watched as King Prana and General Organa blew out their dishes and then followed their leads. They waited several minutes for the dish to cool down, with General Organa eventually taking a small spoon to break the crust on the dessert’s surface, then taking a bit of that and the spongy layer beneath it onto her spoon and into her mouth. Imitating General Organa, Rey did the same and was pleasantly shocked at the contrast of sweet and savory flavors, along with the crunchy and soft textures that filled her mouth.

“I hope that you’ve all been enjoying your meal!” King Prana clapped his hands several times to get everyone’s attention. “Now, I’d like to begin the discussion around the formation of an alliance between Rinou and the Resistance. First, let’s start with a toast!”

Another server appeared, distributing long, slender glasses of a sparkling wine to everyone who sat at the table. Following the lead of everyone else at the table, Rey clinked her glass with those held by Poe, the General, King Prana, and his aide.

King Prana continued with a smile. “I have one simple condition for committing all resources and personnel at my disposal to the cause of the Resistance.” 

The King stood up out of his chair then kneeled down on one knee in front of General Organa. “Princess Leia, you are the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. For most of my adult life, I have watched from the sidelines as you were wed to another man. However, now that he has sadly perished, I wish to pledge my devotion to you and your cause.” He took the General’s hand, who exchanged a shocked look with Poe and Rey.

“Princess Leia,” King Prana continued, “in exchange for my kingdom’s resources, will you marry me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your wonderful response to this fic so far! Your kudos and comments are a huge source of encouragement!


	3. Welcome to the family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> King Prana elaborates on his proposal to Princess Leia, and Rey makes a shocking discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe that Carrie Fisher has been gone for a week... RIP, Carrie. 
> 
> I posted last week's chapter right before the news about Carrie broke, and I'm somewhat relieved that this isn't a very Leia-heavy chapter, as that would have been emotionally difficult to revise and post.
> 
> ***  
> Recap of last week's chapter: Rey & co. meet the rather creepy King Prana. Rey finds out that this mission won't be over quite as quickly as she'd hoped, and the Resistance trio have a formal dinner with the King, where King Prana makes a shocking marriage proposal to General Organa.

General Leia Organa stared at King Prana in stunned silence.

With a warm smile, the King rubbed the General’s hand and repeated his proposal. “Princess Leia Organa, will you become my wife?”

Slowly, General Organa pulled her hand back from the King and found herself at a rare loss for words. “I-- I--, I’m very flattered, but I can’t.”

King Prana rose from his knee and resumed his seat at the head of the table. “I know that on some level, you know that I’ve been in love with you for many years, so my proposal can’t come as a total shock. You don’t have to answer me immediately.”

Choosing her words carefully, General Organa replied. “I will take my time and think it over.”

The King laughed. “Now, don’t take too much time. For the next three days, I am opening up the non-restricted areas of the palace for you and your pilots to enjoy,” he gestured to Rey and Poe. “At the end of three days, however, I would like your answer. I am hosting a gala at that time, and I would like to announce our engagement that evening.”

Unsure what else to say, General Organa nodded, “Thank you. I will give your proposal serious consideration.”

***

Rey did not sleep well that night, unable to tear her thoughts away from the bizarre dinner and the even more bizarre marriage proposal that King Prana had made to General Organa that night. She couldn’t imagine having a choice like the General’s weighing on her shoulders. On one hand, it would be a no-brainer to turn down the proposal; General Organa has recently been widowed from the love of her life, and to be blunt about it, King Prana was creepy. On the other hand, Rey knew that General Organa placed a sense of duty and service to the galaxy above all else--including family and her own comfort. What if King Prana’s resources on Rinou really were enough to sway the war in the favor of the Resistance? 

Rey rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She wondered what would be expected of General Organa if she did go ahead and go through with the marriage. Would the General have to kiss the King? Rey shuddered at the thought; she didn’t have much experience with romantic relationships, but she had kissed a couple of boys on Jakku. And then there was that kiss from a pilot friend of Poe’s had unexpectedly planted on Rey’s mouth when she had been up late socializing one night. King Prana might be royalty, but frankly, he was gross. Rey couldn’t imagine kissing him, let alone engaging in the more intimate aspects of a marriage. But this would be a political marriage, not a romantic one, right? General Organa definitely wouldn’t have to actually have sex with King Prana, would she?

Rey squeezed her eyes shut and tried to not think too much about the General’s situation. She knew that she’d support the General’s decision no matter what.

***

The next morning, Rey awoke to loud knocking on her door. Quickly, she threw on a silk dressing gown over her nightclothes, and opened the door. To her surprise, Sulalle stood outside of her door, fully dressed already.

“Good morning, Rey,” Sulalle greeted her with a smile.

“Oh hello, good morning!” Rey yawned, running her hand through her tangled hair and still feeling a bit sleepy. “What time is it? Did I oversleep.”

“Father sent me to deliver a message to you,” Sulalle replied. “He would like for you to join him for breakfast in the garden this morning.”

“Oh, okay,” Rey frowned, surprised by the request.

“You can go ahead and shower and change; I can wait outside for you, and then I’ll escort you to the garden.”

***

A short time later, Rey found herself sitting at a small bistro table across from King Prana. Pitchers of caf and juice and a basket of pastries sat on the table, waiting for her arrival. Rey glanced around nervously, wondering why only she had been invited to this breakfast. The only other people present in the garden were four of the King’s royal guards.

“Do you drink caf?” the King asked, pouring himself a cup of the hot beverage and handing the pitcher over to Rey.

“Yes, thank you,” she took the pitcher and poured a cup. Rey had only discovered caf since joining the Resistance and usually used generous amounts of cream and sugar to combat the bitter taste. She held the cup to her nose. “This smells amazing.”

“The beans for that caf were grown here on Rinou. There’s a clan that specializes in growing and process top-quality beans, and that’s the only place that I source by caf from for the palace.”

Cautiously, Rey took a sip. “It’s delicious.”

“Of course, it is,” the King chuckled. “I wouldn’t have anything other than the best here.” He handed her the basket of pastries. “Please, have a pastry.”

Rey took a glazed roll of some kind and placed it on the plate in front of her, looking at the King expectantly. She wondered if King Prana was ever going to get to the point and tell her why she was here having breakfast alone with him. Her mind returned to the uncomfortable memory of the previous night, when the King had gotten overly friendly with her. Given that he had just proposed marriage to General Organa the previous night, he wouldn’t have invited her to this breakfast with a questionable motive, would he? 

“So, Rey, you’re awfully young to be one of Princess Leia’s personal pilots. You must be awfully good at flying. How did you come into your position?”

Rey looked around, wishing that General Organa or someone else was available to answer the question. Not wanting to divulge her involvement with the Skywalker family or their drama, Rey answered carefully, “General Organa chose me for my piloting skills.”

“Did you attend a flight academy?”

“No,” Rey took a bite of her pastry. Wanting to change the subject, she commented, “This is delicious. What is this?”

“That’s a beignet. My pastry chef made them fresh in our kitchen this morning,” the King smiled and then changed the subject back to Rey’s flight training. “So, if you didn’t attend an academy, where did you become so skilled at flying at such a young age?”

“I taught myself using a flight simulator,” Rey replied with her mouth full of beignet.

“Impressive. Where did you have access to a flight simulator?”

Rey felt increasingly uncomfortable with King Prana’s line of questioning. Where was he going with this? Why did he care where or how she learned to fly? She toyed with the idea of lying about her flight simulator, but then decided that would probably only lead to more trouble and instead spoke truthfully. “I built the simulator myself.”

King Prana stared at Rey for a moment. Maintaining eye contact, he stated, “I’m going to cut to the chase here. You’re Force-sensitive, aren’t you?”

Rey nearly choked on her beignet. “I--  I...Why do you ask?”

“I saw your reflexes when that goblet was thrown at you last night? Between that and your reputation as a pilot, it’s pretty obvious.”

Rey’s face felt like it was burning. She really didn’t know if she should be discussing any of this; why would he even care if one of General Organa’s pilots was Force-sensitive? 

Sensing Rey’s discomfort, the King tried to assure her. “You have no reason to fear. I have absolutely nothing against Force sensitives. Quite the opposite, actually. I was merely curious.”

“Um, okay,” Rey warily took another bite of her beignet.

“Let me guess. You’ve been training to be a Jedi with Princess Leia’s brother and son?”

“Sort of.” Trying to to hide her surprise at the General’s son being mentioned along with Luke, as if nothing was wrong, Rey picked up her cup and took a sip of caf. Clearly, the King had no knowledge of what had happened with Ben and Luke six years ago, when Ben had fallen and become Kylo Ren. 

“How is Ben? I haven’t seen him in years. He was probably 15 or 16, and quite the beanpole at that time. Does he still have that hair?”

Rey spit out her caf, spraying it across her plate. “Yes,” she choked. “He still has that hair.”

King Prana laughed and shook his head. “When he’d come through here with his mother, my girls used to practically fight each other to run their fingers through his hair.”

Rey felt her cheeks grow hot, embarrassed that a passing thought of running her fingers through Kylo Ren’s hair had crossed her mind a few times. “He does have very nice hair.”

She grabbed another beignet from the basket and shoved half of it into her mouth.

“I’m actually kind of surprised that he wasn’t one of Leia’s pilots for this mission.” The King looked directly at Rey. “He never liked me very much. I don’t think he really trusted me around his mother. Not that I ever stood a shot with her as long as Han was around.”

If it were possible, the conversation had gotten even stranger, and Rey still wasn’t sure why the King had requested to have breakfast with her. Had he assumed that she was close to General Organa, and perhaps he was trying to get in with Rey’s good graces, thinking that it might influence the General’s decision? In any case, if King Prana didn’t know what had happened with Ben/Kylo, Rey thought that it was probably best that he continued to not know--she didn’t trust the King to not use Ben’s fall as leverage in some way with the General. Still, Rey did find it somewhat amusing that Ben apparently hadn’t trusted the King any more than she did.

“What’s so funny?” King Prana asked.

“Hmmm?”

“You’re smiling.”

“Oh, um, nothing.” Rey quickly recovered her composure. “It’s just funny to hear someone talk about Ben when he was younger.”

“Are you two...close?”

“No! Definitely not” she blurted out in horror.

King Prana held up his hands in mock defense. “My apologies. I wasn’t trying to insinuate anything.” He then added, “Although it wouldn’t come as a surprise, given that you’re both young, attractive Force users. You are both single, I assume?

Rey looked at him skeptically. Why in the world would King Prana have any interest in her love life? “Yes, I’m single. And as far as Ben goes, there isn’t anyone that I’m aware of.” 

Or at least, she hadn’t seen thoughts of any significant other when she’d peered into his mind, she thought to herself.

“I’m curious,” King Prana brought his hands together so that his two index fingers touched. “Is there a reason why Ben didn’t accompany you all on this mission? He was always very protective of his mother.”

Rey shrugged, not wanting to give away any information that the King did not already have. “I don’t think he knew. He’s off doing his own thing right now.”

The King glanced at Rey’s empty plate. “Are you finished eating? I’d like you to take a walk with me.”

“Um, sure,” she replied tentatively.

The King stood up and offered Rey the crook of his arm. She looked around nervously, not feeling comfortable being alone with this man and wherever he planned to lead her, before she accepted and also stood up.

They spent several minutes quietly walking through the palace flower gardens before either of them spoke. 

King Prana cleared his throat. “Rey, tell me about your life on Jakku. What was it like growing up there?”

Rey stared at the flowers off to the side of the path in an effort to avoid making eye contact. “Hot and dry.”

“Did you live there your entire life?”

She shook her head. “No, or at least, I don’t think so. Not that I really remember it, but I lived somewhere else until I was about 5.”

“I assume that you lived with your parents? Tell me about your mother.”

Something about King Prana’s tone jarred Rey. She looked up and stared at him. He knew something about her beyond what she had told him, she was certain.  


Rey chose her words carefully. “Why do you want to know?”

“I just want to get to know you better.”

The King’s words felt fake. Rey had spent enough time dealing liars on Jakku that she could easily identify them. King Prana wanted something from her. She was now sure, and she needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. Trying to steer the conversation towards more a more superficial topic, she commented, “These gardens are beautiful. Are all of these flowers native to Rinou?”

“They are, indeed. Rey, I know that you haven’t been here for very long, but how do you like our palace?” The King placed his arm around Rey’s shoulders. She tried not to shudder in response.

How was she supposed to answer that question? That the palace appeared beautiful on the surface, and that Rinou’s people had all so far been very friendly and helpful, but that she still had a very uneasy feeling being there? Instead, Rey gave him the answer that she suspected King Prana wanted to hear. “It’s very lovely here. Your daughter, Sulalle has been very kind to me.”

The King clasped her shoulder. “Good! I am happy to hear that. I was hoping that you two might become friendly with each other.”

Rey shook off his grip. “I guess we could. But I probably won’t be here for more than a few days. Regardless of what General Organa decides, I’ll be heading back to the Resistance soon with Poe.”

“Of course. You wouldn’t expect to be spending much time here. But tell me, Rey, if you had the chance, would you like to stay here for a bit longer?”

Rey eyed him suspiciously. “How much longer, and why?”

King Prana placed his arm back around Rey’s shoulder again. He smiled. “Rey, I have some good news for you. You have a home here. You will always have a home here.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, exasperated and tired of his mind games.

“Why, it turns out that you’re family! Do you recall that blood sample that we took when you arrived?”

“Yes?” A feeling of dizziness overcame her. Family? Without thinking, she grabbed the King’s arm to help keep her balance.

“When I met you, you reminded me of someone who used to be very important to me. I had our technicians run a DNA analysis on your blood sample, and it turns out that I was right.” The King pulled Rey into his chest, embracing her.

“Rey, I am your father!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the wonderful kudos and comments! They are a huge writing motivator!
> 
> I know that we've had two Kylo-less chapters in a row, but I promise that he and his impulsive self is back next chapter!


	4. Lady Rey is currently unattached

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey reacts to finding out that she's the long-lost daughter of King Prana. Kylo Ren is again pursuing "personal interests".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we last left Rey, she had just received the shock of her life in finding out that King Prana was her father. Shortly before this, Prana had proposed to General Organa, offering her and the Resistance an alliance, but only if she would agree to be his wife. And where is Kylo while all of this is going on? We shall soon find out...

Rey immediately felt physically ill. She wrenched herself from his grasp, bent over, and heaved her breakfast into a flower bed. She had spent all of these years hoping that her family would find her, and  _ this man _ turns out to be her father? Taking a minute to recover, she stood up straight with tears in her eyes. King Prana had a look of curiosity on his face.

“What? How--  How can you be my father?” she stammered. 

“Come, let’s sit down,” King Prana took her arm and led her to one of the benches that lined the garden path.

“I don’t understand. I waited for my parents to come back for me for so long… I’d finally accepted that they were probably dead. How can I be your daughter?” Rey looked to the King, tears now streaming down her face.

The King placed his arm around Rey. “I had my suspicions as soon as I saw you in the throne room. You look just like your mother did at your age, and then when it became apparent that you were Force-sensitive, I was pretty sure that I knew who you were. That’s why I had the DNA test run on your blood sample.”

Rey pulled back and stared at the King. “How did you know my mother? What happened to her?” She failed to hide the anger that was starting to build in her voice. 

“I can only tell you what I know,” the King explained. “Your mother lived here at the palace with us. I’ve fathered children with many women, but I found your mother to be very special.”

“WHAT?!?” Rey blurted out in horror. “My mother was part of whatever goes on here at this...palace?!?”

“Calm down,” King Prana grabbed Rey by the upper arms and told her sternly, “I treat my lady friends very well. She had a good life here.”

Rey wrenched away from him and stood up, practically screaming. “What happened to her? What did you do to her?”

The King stood up. “ _ I _ didn’t do anything to her. Even with everything that I did for her, she always seemed somewhat sad. Against my wishes, she left when you were around 4 or 5 years old and took you with her. I looked for her for many years, but never found her. If she ended up on Jakku at some point, I guess that would explain why we never found her.”

Rey snorted. “Yes, she ‘ended up on Jakku’ at some point. She left me there and never came back. Something happened to her after that. I  _ know _ that it did.”

The King’s voice softened. “I’m sorry, Rey. I don’t know the circumstances, but we did receive reports that a woman matching her description was found deceased about thirteen years ago.”

Crossing her arms in attempt to hold herself, Rey choked out a sob. “She’s been dead all this time? What happened? Where was she found? How did she die?”

“I’m not sure,” he stroked her back. “The report came in from Arkanis. I have no idea what she was doing there. A death certificate was filed with the government there. I don’t have any more details beyond the fact that her death was listed as ‘suspicious’.”

Rey looked up, trying to make sense of the fact that the man standing in front of her. “Did you ever even look for me?”

“We did, initially, but when we couldn’t even find any information about you, we had assumed the worst--that either you were also deceased or had been abducted. The few leads that we’d had for your mother said that she had been traveling alone.”

“Why would anyone have abducted me?”

The King sighed. “Like you, your mother was also Force sensitive and very beautiful. Because of that, she attracted unwanted attention from people who had...less than honorable intentions. She originally came to Rinou seeking safe haven, since we’ve historically remained a neutral and independent planet.”

Rey stared at the King, then at the ground, wishing that she could just disappear away somewhere to process this conversation.

“I realize that all of this is probably a huge shock to you. Why don’t we start walking back to the palace?”

“Thank you,” Rey nodded. “I think I need some time alone right now.”

They walked in silence for a while. The King spoke again as they approached the palace doors. “I want you to know that you will always have a home here. In fact, regardless of what happens with Princess Leia, I would like it if you would stay a while, so that we can get to know each other.”

Rey frowned. Regardless of any relation that she might have to him, King Prana made Rey feel extremely uneasy, and as soon as whatever happened was done here, she wanted to get back to her “normal” life (whatever that was) with the Resistance. However, she also didn’t have the energy to argue right now. “I’ll think about it,” she answered, faking a smile.

He led her to the door. “I have duties that I must attend to now, so I’m leaving you here. There is one more thing that I wanted to ask of you, and I hope that you’ll accept.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m holding a gala for my daughters--your sisters in two days. The primary purpose of the gala will be to find suitors for those that are unattached and of marriageable age. However, it really will just be a fancy party, and I encourage you to attend.”

“That sounds nice,” Rey replied. She had never been to a fancy party before, and she wasn’t particular interested in changing that. Looking on the bright side, though, Rey had just learned that she actually had sisters! Sisters! Her mind drifted things that she’d only read about in holobooks--groups of girls together giggling, dancing, and checking out the cute boys.

The King hugged her. “I’ll send one of your sisters to help you pick out a dress for the ball. Does that sound okay?”

Rey perked up. She had never had any occasion to pick out a new dress for  _ anything _ before. “Yes, I’d like that,” she grinned.

“Good. We will be in touch. Try to enjoy the rest of your morning.” The King smiled at Rey, then disappeared down one of the palace’s many hallways.

 

***

 

Rey sat on the bed in her guest quarters, attempting to meditate. After this morning’s traumatic revelation, she needed to calm herself. As Luke had taught her on Ahch-To, she sat and attempted to connect with the Force, letting its peaceful threads wrap around her consciousness. Focus was difficult; she now at least had a little information about what had happened to her mother, but finding out that she was the illegitimate daughter of a strange King? She had no idea how to feel about that. 

Rey continued to concentrate on feeling the strands of the Force, letting them transport her out of this room and away from her current drama. She felt the creatures in the forest beyond the palace walls, felt the life force of the trees, and felt the calm breeze that ran through those trees. In her mind, she ran her fingers through the Force threads much in the same way a young child might run her fingers through the yarn of a doll’s hair. The effect was immediately soothing. Rey allowed herself to be transported on the threads, not trying to influence them, but instead going with their flow. Suddenly, one thread jerked forward, causing Rey to nearly lose hold of the strand. What was this? Curious, Rey gently tugged back on the thread. Again, the thread jerked forward, pulling Rey with it. She let go of the other strands, allowing herself to be pulled with it. The sensation of being pulled along by the thread was almost euphoric; Rey imagined that this is what flying must feel like. She had no idea where the thread was taking her beyond a persistent thought in her mind that it was taking her somewhere that she absolutely needed to go.

Pounding at her door jolted Rey out of her meditation. She blinked a few times, trying to bring her consciousness back to her current environment.

The pounding resumed.

Rey slid off of the bed and walked over to the door. She let the scanner read her hand, and the door slid open. General Organa and Poe stood on the other side. The General started to hold out her arms, and Rey threw herself into them, embracing the older woman in a hug. Without warning, the tears that Rey had largely been holding back began to flow freely. 

Calmly, the General rubbed the younger woman’s back. “Oh Rey, I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling,” she sighed.

General Organa informed her that news of the development with Rey’s lineage spread rapidly. Apparently, King Prana was quite proud to have found his long-lost daughter, and once he had told Rey, he proceeded to tell the rest of his daughters and nearly everyone in his inner circle. From there, the gossip quickly spread to the King’s servants and guests, including General Organa and Poe.

Rey sighed. “I feel like I’ve had a million emotions running through me all day.”  She then turned her attention to Poe, and hugged him. “I just can’t believe that any of this is real.”

“Do you want us to come in? Or would you like to be alone?” Poe asked.

Rey shook her head. “I’ve been alone all morning, and it would be nice to be able to talk about this. Please come in.”

Rey sat down on the bed, flanked by Poe and General Organa. She tried to lighten the mood by making a joke, turning to General Organa. “So, in a weird way, I guess you could become my stepmother.”

General Organa snorted in response.

Rey looked up, smiling through her tears. “Please tell me that means that you’ve made a decision.”

“You haven’t told her yet?” Poe asked.

General Organa laughed. “With everything that’s happened, I haven’t had a chance to.” She turned to look at Rey, grasping her hands in her own. “I think you’ll be relieved to hear that I won’t be marrying King Prana.”

“Oh, thank the Maker!” Rey threw her arms around the General, then realizing what she had done, drew back in embarrassment.

“So, you feel that strongly about it?” Poe joked.

“General, I don’t mean any disrespect if you were seriously considering it. I know how much it would help the Resistance to gain the support of Rinou, but I just get a bad feeling about this place. And I don’t trust King Prana--I don’t care if he’s technically my father.”

Poe grinned. “I guess this means that you’ll be coming home with us and won’t be taking up residence here at King Prana’s castle with the rest of his daughters then?”

Rey made a face like she’d just tasted something bitter. “No! Of course not. I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“As soon as possible, but then we’ll miss ‘the ball’ in two nights!” Poe joked, placing a falsetto emphasis on the words “the ball”.

The General looked at Poe with an expression of mock seriousness on her face. “We can leave you here for that Poe. I wouldn’t want you to miss any chance to hook up with King Prana’s daughters.”

“Hey! If you end up marrying one of his daughters, you would be my brother-in-law!” Rey chided. 

“There you go,” the General smiled. “Come to think of it, if I married King Prana, and Poe married one of your sisters, then we’d all be related in some way!”

Poe shook his head emphatically. “I am NOT marrying anyone. Any hooking up that I do here will be of the casual, no-strings-attached variety.”

“General,” Rey asked, changing the subject, “Have you told the King yet?”

General Organa sighed. “I tried to tell him this morning, but he insisted on me taking the full three days before telling him my decision. He did ask me to be his special guest to his gala, and in the interest of diplomacy, I did accept that invitation.”

“And then we can leave?” Rey couldn’t hide her eagerness.

“And then we can leave, I swear,” General Organa promised.

 

***

 

Kylo Ren couldn’t sleep. Lying on his bed in his quarters on the Finalizer, he tossed and turned, unable to shake his frustration of coming so close to reaching Rey, only to have her run off, yet again. The Supreme Leader likely knew of his most recent failure on Ahch-To, but Kylo had yet to be summoned to face his latest round of chastisement and punishment. Somewhat mindlessly in the darkness, he reached out to the Force, trying to re-center himself. He visualized thousands of Force threads, choosing occasional ones to passively follow at random. 

Without even trying, one particular thread became the object of Kylo’s focus. What was this? Usually this exercise provided nothing more than a sense of calm that would occasionally allow him to sleep on occasions when he battled insomnia. However, there was something oddly familiar about this thread. He knew that it wasn’t Skywalker’s Force signature; his uncle had been cloaking that for years. It wasn’t his mother’s signature, either; he was able to recognize (and avoid) that one instantly.

The scavenger. This thread had to be Rey’s Force signature, which Skywalker apparently hadn’t yet taught her how to disguise. Curious as to her reaction, Kylo lightly tugged on the thread. A few seconds later, he felt a return tug. Kylo smiled to himself, well aware that Rey likely had no idea what she was doing. Amused, he began to pull the thread, largely just to see what would happen. He could feel Rey’s presence at this point and could tell that she was allowing herself to be pulled along with the thread. Clearly, she had no clue as to who was at the other end of the Force thread but then, abruptly, Rey dropped the thread, and Kylo felt it instantly go slack. 

Rolling over onto his back, Kylo wondered whether Rey had simply been interrupted or whether she had somehow figured out who was on the other end of the thread. He stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes, trying to will sleep to come to him.

A buzzing noise roused Kylo minutes later. Although it was practically the middle of the night on the  _ Finalizer _ ,  someone was clearly trying to get his attention.  Annoyed at being summoned at this hour, he slid out of bed and walked over to the door.

He pressed the comm button to speak. “Yes?”

“Commander Ren, it’s Lieutenant Mitaka. May I speak with you? It’s about the ‘special assignment’ that you gave me.”

Kylo sighed. “One moment.”

He darted back to his bedroom, throwing on his outer robe and placing his mask on his head before opening the door. A very nervous-looking Lieutenant Mitaka stood at the entrance.

“Sir, I have an update about my...special assignment.” Mitaka couldn’t stop fidgeting. 

“I apologize for the late hour, but you did request that if we made any progress to notify you immediately.”

“What is it?” Kylo asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“The girl...I think you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve located her.”

“You have?” This was about the last piece of news that Kylo was expecting. “Where is she?”

“As of the past day, she appears to be on the planet Rinou, staying at King Prana’s palace.”

“Rinou?” Kylo frowned behind his mask. “We don’t have any intelligence officers there. How did you come across this information?”

“Sir...it’s all on this. Just watch that, and it will explain everything.” Mitaka handed Kylo a data stick.

“Thank you for being prompt with this,” Kylo nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

“And thank you for your continued discretion. Dismissed.” He waved away the Lieutenant.

The door sliding shut behind him, Kylo retreated back into his quarters, turning the data stick over in his hand. Rinou...what could Rey possibly be doing on Rinou? Kylo had been dragged along on several diplomatic missions to Rinou in his youth with his parents. He smirked to himself, remembering the attention that he’d received from King Prana’s daughters--one daughter, in particular, on those trips. Those girls were about the only appealing thing at that palace for an adolescent male. When Kylo wasn’t happily basking in attention from the King’s daughters, he’d generally be attempting to shield his mother from the unwanted advances of King Prana. Not that his mother couldn’t handle herself in the presence of a lecherous man, but the way that the King looked and spoke to the then-Senator Organa made Kylo cringe. 

Kylo sat down at his desk and slid the data stick into one of the ports on his holopad. To his surprise, the holovid that began to play wasn’t a message recorded by a First Order spy or bounty hunter;  it was a local news story that had been broadcast over Rinou holonet earlier that evening. He leaned back into his chair, watching as a perky female news presenter narrated the most recent developments taking place on Rinou.

_ “On the lighter side of today’s news, we have some breaking news on our own royal family!” _

A stock photo of King Prana appeared in the broadcast. The presenter continued.

_ “Earlier today, King Prana announced his intention to marry the former New Republic Senator, Princess Leia Organa.” _

An old stock photo of Kylo’s mother appeared in the holovid, superimposed next to the photo of King Prana.

“No…” Kylo jerked forward, as if leaning in closer to the holovid would somehow affect the news being relayed. There was no way that his mother would willingly agree to this; her opinion of King Prana was possibly even lower than Kylo’s.

_ “The recently widowed Princess Leia is currently visiting Rinou on a diplomatic mission. King Prana professed his affection for the Princess at a state dinner last night and asked for her hand in marriage.”  _

What would the Resistance want with Rinou, anyway? Kylo shook his head in disbelief. How desperate must his mother be to engage in whatever negotiations she was having with King Prana? Knowing King Prana, he’d probably made the General some sort of offer of an alliance or something, only to hit her with his condition that she marry him to obtain Rinou’s support. Despite King Prana’s arrogance, Kylo knew that there was no way that General Organa would willingly marry him. 

The video cut to a statement read to the camera by King Prana.

_ “Princess Leia and I have been friends for a long time, and I’ve had an affection for her for as long as I can remember. I expect to formally announce our official engagement in three days. But in the meantime, I am thrilled to be hosting her and the rest of her party as guests in our palace.” _

The holovid showed a video clip of the King and General Organa eating dinner. Kylo noted that his media-savvy mother did not appear to be aware that she was being filmed at that moment. The camera shifted slightly, capturing a pretty brunette, seated at the other side of the King. She appeared noticeably agitated and kept glancing up at the General and to her side.

Rey. The General must have dragged her along on whatever diplomatic mission this was supposed to be, clearly oblivious to King Prana’s real intentions. The propaganda piece droned on for another minute or so, going on about how wonderful King Prana was and how he planned to welcome Princess Leia into Rinou’s kingdom. Kylo was about to shut off the holovid when the story grabbed his attention again.

_ “And it doesn’t look like Princess Leia Organa will be the only new addition to the palace here on Rinou,” the news presenter chirped. “Another happy reunion took place when King Prana was reunited with his long-lost daughter, Rey, who had spent much of her life living on Jakku.” _

The video cut to a photo of a very uncomfortable-looking Rey sitting awkwardly on King Prana’s knee.

_ “The relationship between Rey and the King was discovered during a routine orientation session for Princess Leia’s diplomacy team. Rey currently works as an assistant to the Princess, but all of that will soon be changing as she adjusts to her new life as a new member of the royal family!” _

“What the hell?” Kylo murmured aloud. What the kriff was going happening on Rinou? 

_ “And gentlemen, the lovely Lady Rey is currently unattached! If you’re lucky enough to have an invitation the upcoming state gala in a few days, King Prana will be auditioning potential marriage candidates for Rey and several other of his daughters that evening!” _

Kylo switched off the holopad in shock. He nearly heaved it into a wall. Rey was just going to be married off to Maker-knows-who? She’d likely be expected to live out the rest of her life as an incubator to the heirs of whatever old rich man gave Prana the most attractive offer. Kylo might not have spent much time with Rey in their previous encounter, but he knew that under no circumstances would Rey agree to a forced, political marriage. On top of that, Kylo needed Rey and her potential with the Force if he was ever going to accomplish his own goal of finishing what his grandfather started.

He picked up his mask and placed it over his face. Even though it was the middle of the night, he knew what he needed to do. Kylo Ren exited his quarters and headed to the landing bay of the  _ Finalizer _ ; he needed to get to Rinou as quickly as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't thank you all enough for all of your wonderful comments and kudos! Not only do they give me a chance to interact with you all a bit, they are huge motivators for me.


	5. Kylo is coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, King Prana elaborated a little bit on Rey's history. Poe and Leia gave Rey some sympathy upon hearing the news that she was King Prana's long lost daughter, and word of Rey and Leia's predicament reached Kylo Ren, who immediately set out for the palace on Rinou.

Minutes after Poe and Leia left Rey’s quarters, a buzzing rang out over her room’s comm system. 

“Yes?” Rey answered.

“Rey? I’m Regina. I’m your sister,” a woman’s voice answered through the comm.

Another sister? The amusing thought struck Rey that she didn’t even know how many sisters she actually had, thanks to King Prana. Rey smiled to herself, scanned her handprint, and the door slid open.

A tall, beautiful woman with dark blonde hair stood on the other side of the door. She was slender, but curves that Rey’s figure didn’t have, and her hair cascaded past her shoulders in loose waves. If Rey had to guess, she would have placed the woman’s age around 30 years old. 

Cautiously, Rey extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Rey.”

Regina took Rey’s hand and gently pulled her forward, placing an air kiss on her cheek.

“Nice to finally meet you, Rey. As I said, my name is Regina,” she smiled.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Regina continued, beaming. “Father asked if one of us could take you to lunch and then take you to find a dress for the gala that he’s holding the day after tomorrow. I volunteered.”

“Oh, um, thank you.”   


“Shall we?” Regina offered Rey the crook of her arm. “There is a really cute cafe that I really love that’s just past the marketplace.”

Rey cautiously took Regina’s arm and replied. “That sounds great.”

  


***

  


The “cute cafe” turned out to be much nicer than Rey had been expecting. Of course, that would be the case. Everything at the palace continued to make her feel more out of her element. Regina ordered some sort fruity tea beverages for them as Rey skimmed the cafe menu. She’d never heard of most of the foods listed, and of the ones that she had heard of, she’d never had a chance to try them before. Granted, probably anything on this menu was better than the instabread portions she’d had back on Jakku or the food served in the Resistance cantina.

Looking up from the menu, Rey asked, “What do you like here?”

“Oh, everything here is good.”

That answer wasn’t helpful. Rey tried again. “What are you going to order?”

“Today, I’m just going to have a leafy green side salad. I have to watch what I eat with the gala coming up tomorrow night.”

Rey frowned. “Why do you have to watch what you eat because of a gala?”

Regina laughed. “I have to look my best! I can’t be bloated or anything if I want to catch the eye of a prince.”

“A prince?” Rey asked suspiciously. “I thought this was just some sort of a state party or something?”

“Well, technically, it is. It will serve as a basis for Father to negotiate alliances with other governments. But, of course, I’m sure you know that Father’s favorite way to negotiate alliances is through arranging marriages for us.”

Rey choked and nearly spat out her tea.

“You’re kidding.” Rey swallowed and regained her composure. “That’s awful!”

Regina shrugged. “It might seem awful to you, but political marriages have long been part of Rinou’s culture. Father has usually been able to find good matches for most of us.”

Suddenly the “deal” that King Prana had proposed to General Organa made a lot more sense; he was used to the institution of marriage having political strings attached. Still, it seemed like the Resistance stood a lot more to gain from such a union than either King Prana or Rinou did; they’d certainly be inviting the attention from the First Order that they had so far successfully avoided. Surely, King Prana didn’t simply see “Princess Leia” as some sort of trophy, did he? Given all of the General’s life accomplishments, the thought of the General being seen as a prize disgusted Rey. 

Trying to keep any hint of judgment out of her tone, Rey responded, “That’s good that he’s able to find good matches for you.” She would be very, very glad to get back to her life with the Resistance and not have to worry about marriage--political or otherwise--until quite some time from now. Heck, Rey wasn’t even sure that she ever wanted to get married; relationships certainly weren’t anything that she thought much about when she’d spent the past 14 years on Jakku simply trying to survive.

“Father found a good match for me last time,” Regina stated, sipping from her tea cup and watching Rey.

“But you’re not married now, are you?” Rey was confused.

“No. My husband was killed in a First Order attack on his home planet three years ago. That’s why I’m back here on Rinou.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rey looked down into her cup, not sure what else to say. “Is that why your father is looking to align with the Resistance?”

“No.  _ Our _ father could care less about the Resistance; he just wants to bone Princess Leia,” Regina giggled. Realizing what she’d just said, she added, “Pardon my crude language, if I offended you.”

“No offense taken. Remember, I’m around pilots all day long. I’ve heard much, much worse.” Rey shook her head and and faked a smile. She couldn’t imagine the General agreeing to sleep with King Prana under any circumstances; King or not, the man had to be delusional.

“Speaking of pilots, what’s the story on the pilot that you flew in with?” Regina leaned forward over the table.

“Poe? I don’t know. He’s a good pilot?”

“Is there anything, you know, going on between you two?”

“Me and Poe?” Rey snorted. “No. He’s a coworker. And a friend. But that’s it.”

“He’s cute. Is he single?”

“Oh he’s definitely single, but I don’t think he’s looking to settle down at all.”

A sly grin crossed Regina’s face. “Who said anything about settling down? While I’m still waiting for my next match, a girl can still have fun, can’t she?”

“Sure?” 

Regina leaned back into her chair. “Well, I guess you can’t. According to Father, you’re still a virgin?”

“What?!?” Rey felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. “How on earth would he know that? That’s no one’s business.”

Regina shrugged. “Father has a discreet bio scanner integrated in the room where you gave your blood sample. Normally, it’s just used for security measures, but obviously, when he found out that you were one of us, he took more of an interest. The scanner showed that you were still...intact.”

“Why the kriff would he be interested in my virginity?” Rey blurted out, then looked around the cafe to make sure that no one had noticed her outburst.

“You’ll have a lot more options for matches that way. And Father will be able to negotiate a marriage contract much more in his favor.” Regina raised an eyebrow and gave Rey a wicked grin. “You do know that some men  _ love _ virgins, don’t you? They love the fact that they’ll be the one to deflower you.”

Rey stared at Regina in disbelief for a few seconds then stated, “I’m not here to have a marriage arranged for me.”

“Sure, that’s what you say now.”

Looking down at her half-eaten lunch, Rey realized that her appetite was completely gone. “You know, I’m not really hungry any more. Should we just go and get the dress taken care of?”

“Oh, don’t get so upset. It’s really not that bad once you get used to the way things are. You’ll likely be treated very well.”

Rey shook her head to herself; Regina really didn’t get it. There was absolutely no way that Rey was going to stick around here and allow herself to be married off to any man that King Prana picked out for her. She couldn’t wait for General Organa to get her rejection of the King out of the way, and then they could all get back to the Resistance as quickly as possible.

As Rey sat there in silence, Regina finally said, “Okay, if you’re really finished with lunch, we can get out of here.”   


“Thank you.”

“Cheer up. We’ll have a lot of fun picking out a dress for you to wear.”

  


***

  


Rey did not have fun picking out a dress with Regina. Regina had escorted her to the studio of the royal dressmaker. After Rey got over her dismay that a “royal dressmaker” actually existed, Rey was poked and prodded and stuffed into a series of dresses that she was quickly then peeled out of. Throughout the whole ordeal, Regina and the dressmaker discussed Rey’s body, and the “flaws” they perceived it to have, as if Rey wasn’t even there. Rey had never felt particularly self-conscious of her body, but suddenly, her breasts were too small, and her waist wasn’t defined enough. According to some arbitrary standard, though, Rey had great legs and a nice bum, and whatever dress she chose should show those things off. This was beginning to feel more and more like an audition of some kind, and less and less like a party that was supposed to be fun. 

In the end, Rey wound up selecting a backless black gown with silver beadwork sewn. The dress’s beadwork extended up to its halter neckline and disappeared towards her waist in a slight ombre effect. The skirt of the dress was slim with a thigh-high slit. Looking at her reflection in the full-length mirror of the studio, Rey felt like she was looking at a stranger. Apparently, as part of the prep for tomorrow, she was also encouraged to take advantage of the palace’s professional hairdressers and makeup artists. Her desire to leave this place as quickly as possible quickly dwarfed any curiosity she might have about what it would be like to attend a royal ball. At the request of the dressmaker, Rey left the gown at the studio so that it could be altered for Rey’s figure.

  


***

  


Emotionally exhausted, Rey laid down on her back on the giant bed in her quarters. A cool breeze blew in through her window, which she’d opened earlier to combat the overall stuffiness of her room that evening. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering if she would ever be able to fall asleep that night. She wore a silk slip that she’d found in the bureau of drawers as a nightdress; it seemed like the coolest option to wear on a night that was stiflingly warm.

What an absurd whirlwind of a day; when she’d awoke that morning, her family was still a mystery to her. She still would have done nearly anything to find her family or to at least find out what happened to them. Of course, now that she’d found part of her family, she was faced with the fact that frankly, she didn’t like them very much. Her father was a lecherous man who from what she saw, treated women like objects. Of the sisters that she had met, they acted either cold or indifferent towards her; they were certainly nothing like the sisters that she’d read about in holobooks growing up. Rey tried not to think about the fact that she’d spent 14 years waiting on Jakku for  _ these people _ to show up; the thought was just far too depressing.

Rey closed her eyes. Her mental fatigue aside, sleep was clearly not going to come easily to her tonight. She couldn’t stop playing the day’s events over and over in her mind. In frustration, she rolled over to her side and tried to clear her mind. She laid there for a few more minutes and rolled over to her other side. Finally, Rey gave up and acknowledged to herself that she would likely be unable to find any peace of mind tonight until she tried to center herself mentally. 

Rey sat up and assumed her meditation pose. She closed her eyes and began to breathe in slow, measured breaths. Within minutes, she had slipped into the same scene of Force threads that she had experienced earlier in the day. Lazily, she carded her fingers through the threads again. Similarly to before, Rey felt one particular thread “call” to her. Luke had always told her to let the Force guide her actions, so even though this felt a bit odd to Rey, she decided to follow the Force, and again grabbed the thread. This time, instead of actively pulling Rey along, Rey felt the thread go taught; however, the thread itself remained stationary. Every once in awhile, Rey felt a slight “tugging” sensation, but not enough to actually move Rey within the Force.

Rey wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that; she kept expecting something to happen. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it seemed like there was something actively happening at the other end of that thread. Eventually, the thread went slack, almost as if whoever or whatever was at the other end had dropped it. Rey shrugged, a little disappointed that she still didn’t have an understanding of the mystery thread and laid down on her bed, pulled up a sheet over her body, and a few minutes later, drifted into a light sleep. 

  


***

  


Not long after she’d fallen asleep, a loud thump jolted Rey awake. Her eyes flew open, and almost before her terror had a chance to register, a black leather gloved hand clamped over her mouth before she had a chance to scream. 

A tall, black cloaked figure in a mask loomed over her. Rey’s eyes grew wide with fear. What was he doing here? She tried to scoot back, but in one smooth movement, Kylo Ren squatted down and grabbed her shoulder with his other hand, preventing her from moving. His face was now inches away from hers.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he intoned through the voice modulator of his mask. He sounded slightly annoyed, if Rey wasn’t mistaken.

Rey tried to grab his arm that was restraining her and pull it away from her body. 

“Stop,” Kylo continued. “If I really wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead already. We need to talk. If I remove my hand, will you promise not to scream?”

Rey nodded, not knowing what else to do.

Slowly, Kylo pulled his hand back. “Okay?” he asked.

Rey shifted into a sitting position. “If you’re not here to hurt me, then what are you doing here?” She eyed him warily.

Kylo stood up and raised his hands to his mask. He pressed the release button, removing the mask, and dropping it to the floor. He shook his head, allowing his wavy black mane of hair to cascade around his face.

With a vaguely smug smile, he stated, “I’m here to rescue you.”

“What?!?” Rey exclaimed.

“I’m here to rescue you,” he repeated. 

“Rescue me?” Rey frowned. “From what?”

Kylo also frowned. “From here?”

“Why? I’m not a prisoner.”

“If you’re not a prisoner, then what’s that on your wrist?”

Rey held up her wrist and looked at it. In all of the past day’s drama, she had forgotten that she was even wearing the GPS bracelet. “They said it was just a security precaution…”

“Do you believe that?”

“We’re supposed to leave here in three days.”

“And you think that King Prana is going to just let you go? Just like that? Especially when my moth-- when General Organa rejects him?”

Rey frowned. “I don’t know what to think. This place is bizarre.” She slid out of bed and stood up.

Kylo took a step backwards. His eyes roamed over her body, making Rey suddenly painfully aware that she was only clothed in a silk slip. She looked up, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at him. “How did you find us? It was you at the other end of that Force thread, wasn’t it?”

Kylo quickly averted his gaze. “It was, but I only used that to pinpoint your exact location once I’d gotten to Rinou.” He took a step towards her, asserting his height over her.

“How did you even know we were on Rinou? Did you use some super special dark side Force power?”

“Sure, if you consider ‘the news’ to be a super special dark side Force power.”

“The news?”

“Yes,” Kylo took another step forward, crowding Rey so that the back of her legs hit the bed. “Your team’s little mission to Rinou has been all over the holonet.”

“No!” 

Kylo continued, “Oh yes. Your  _ father _ , King Prana, seemed quite eager to announce his intended engagement to my moth--to General Organa.”

“Oh no.” Rey sat down on the bed, burying her face in her hands. “She’s not going to accept his proposal.”

“I know that. I was dragged here enough times when I was younger to be well-acquainted with the General’s loathing of King Prana. No matter how hopeless the Resistance’s situation might be, even the General wouldn’t be desperate enough to marry him in exchange for whatever alliance he’s offering.”

“How did you know that he was offering her an alliance?” Rey looked up at Kylo.   


“I told you. I’ve been here before. I know how King Prana operates.” He paused and continued in a softer tone, “Did you know that he was your father?”

“Not until this morning,” Rey sighed.

Kylo sat down on the bed next to her, his tone softening. “I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to be disappointed in your family.”

She pulled away from him, a look of horror on her face. “I may have just learned that my father is a total creep, but I still wouldn’t kill him.”

Kylo stood up, raising his voice. “I had no choice in that. I tried to avoid him, but when he called me name, he made it impossible to do so. You have NO right to judge me for happened on Starkiller!”

Rey stood up. Spying his helmet on the ground, she gave it a swift kick and watched it roll under the bed. “ _ Your _ father is the only man who has ever acted the slightest bit like a father towards me! He didn’t deserve what you did to him!”

“You’re right! He didn’t deserve it.” Kylo glared at her. He squatted down, trying to reach the helmet under the bed.

“Then why did you do it?”

“He backed me into a corner. If I hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead now. Including you.”

“Right. Of course, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m not getting into this with you right now.” Kylo stood up, clearly frustrated, and turned away from Rey. 

“And now you come barging in here, thinking that you’re a knight in shining armor or something. How did you even get in here anyway?”

“You left your window open.”

Rey sighed, “And you expect me to just trust you and leave with you? Right now?”

“Yes. You have no reason not to trust me, regardless of your preconceived notions.”

“So you’re basically giving me a choice of being a prisoner here or being a prisoner of the First Order? No thanks.”

“I’m not taking you back to the First Order. I need your help with something, and before you ask, it specifically needs to be you. And no, it's not for the First Order. I need someone who is powerful with the Force and willing to work with me. But the bigger issue than you is that I need to get the General away from King Prana.”

“Why should helping you be a more appealing option to me than staying here?”

Kylo’s tone softened. “Rey, do you even know what the King was saying about you in those news stories?”

“No. I haven’t seen any of the news stories.”

“When he announced that he’d found you--his long-lost daughter, he immediately followed that up with a call for suitors. Rey, he’s looking to arrange a marriage for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kylo has made it to the palace! 
> 
> Thank you again, everyone, for your amazing response to this story! It's so much easier to have your ideas flow when you know that people are reading and enjoying your fic!


	6. Impulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo continue their conversation from earlier after Kylo broke into her quarters at King Prana's palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter, Rey had a rather uncomfortable lunch with her new sister, Regina. As she was drifting off to sleep that night, Kylo Ren broke into her quarters, claiming that he was there to rescue both Rey and his mother from marriages forced on them by King Prana. But escaping won't be that easy, will it?

“You’re lying!” Rey exclaimed.

“I know that you don’t trust me, but think back...have I ever deliberately deceived you?” Kylo took a step towards her, in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture. 

Suddenly, Kylo felt a searing pain as Rey tried to invade his thoughts. He held his head in anguish and snapped at her, “Why did you do that?! That certainly wasn’t a very ‘Jedi’ move of you.”

Rey sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor in a daze. “You  _ are _ telling the truth.” Trembling slightly, she added, “I told the King that I had no interest in joining the family here. I had absolutely no interest in him trying to arrange suitors, let alone a marriage, for me. He knows that I’m heading back to the Resistance as soon as we were finished here.”

Tentatively, Kylo sat down next to her. “Look I know that this is difficult to hear, but if you don’t get out of here soon, he’s going to auction you off like a piece of livestock.” 

Without meaning to, Kylo’s eyes wandered to the deep v-neckline of the chemise that Rey wore, giving him a glimpse of her cleavage. He immediately looked away before Rey noticed. 

“He can’t do that!” Rey looked up at him.

“He shouldn’t be able to, but I’m familiar enough with how King Prana runs things to not be surprised by any of this.” He cautiously placed a hand on her arm. “Heck, he even tried to arrange a marriage between one of his daughters and  _ me _ , back when I was 16.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

Rey studied his face, which he could feel was growing hot under her gaze. She spoke slowly. “ _ If _ your mother and I went with you, where would we be going?”

“I would drop her off at a neutral location.”

“Her? What about me?” A trace of panic returned to Rey’s voice. 

“I just told you--I need your help with something, and besides, you still need a teacher.”

“I  _ have _ a teacher.”

“I know Luke’s methods and philosophy. You’re nearly as poor a fit to be his student as you would be here on Rinou, waiting to be married off to the highest bidder.” Kylo tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. Why was she being so stubborn about this?

“I don’t want to be like you. I’m not joining the dark side.”

Kylo snorted. “I assume that Luke’s teachings still have you avoid the dark side at all cost? I hate to break it to you, but you already have darkness in you. It’s how you gave me this,” he pointed to the scar that diagonally bisected his face.

Rey winced at being reminded of her handiwork from their last interaction.

Kylo continued, “Instead of denying the darkness within you, I can help you learn how to control it. If you’re in control of it, you’ll be less likely to fully fall to it. In any case, once you’ve helped me, you would be free to choose your own path.”

She looked up at him, holding his gaze for several moments before speaking. “I’ll think about it, but I have one condition before I agree to go with you.”

“What’s that?”

“We have to rescue Poe, too.”

“Who’s Poe?”

“My co-pilot. He’s here with us.”

“He’s that asshole pilot that we captured, isn’t he?” Kylo asked in annoyance. “The best pilot in the Resistance?” he added in a mocking tone.

“He  _ is _ the best pilot in the Resistance. And he’s not an asshole.”

“I”m not rescuing him. He’s a tool.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “You’re wrong about that. But even if you don’t like him, we still need to rescue him.”

“No, we don’t,” Kylo sighed with exasperation.

“Yes, we do. We need him to co-pilot the Falcon with me.”

“ _ I _ can co-pilot the Falcon with you.”

“ _ You _ can fly the Millennium Falcon?” Rey stared at him, incredulous.

“Is it really so difficult to believe? I basically learned how to fly with the Falcon.”

Rey snorted. “I just have a hard time picturing you flying  _ anything _ .”

“I am a  _ very _ good pilot,” he leaned into Rey for emphasis.

“We take Poe with us, or I’m not leaving with you,” Rey stated, crossing her arms.

“Fine. He can come with.”

“Fine.”

Kylo clenched his hands into fists. He tried to calm himself before speaking again. “Do you know where they’re keeping General Organa?”

Rey nodded. “Her quarters are just down at the end of this hallway. But I don’t know how we’re going to get in; the rooms here are all locked from the outside with hand scanners.” She turned to him and frowned. “Speaking of which, how did you get in here, anyway?”

“I used the Force,” Kylo smirked, then continued. “I scaled the wall and climbed in through your open window.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “So we’d have to scale the outer wall to get around to her room?”

“That, or I can just have you knock on her door.”

Rey blushed, embarrassed at the obviousness. “Or I could do that.”

Kylo stood up. “So, are you ready to do this?” He offered her his hand.

Rey hesitated, then took his hand and nodded. “Let’s go.” 

Leading him, Rey took a few steps towards the door before being abruptly stopped by Kylo. He cleared his throat and looked at his feet. “Um, Rey, did you want to change before we go? Not that it’s a bad look, but…”

“Oh!” Rey snatched her hand back, then mumbled a barely audible thanks. Without making eye contact with him again, she rummaged through the chest of drawers, pulled out a few items of clothing and disappeared into the ‘fresher.

She emerged a few minutes later wearing a slim-fitting pair of gray pants and a blue tunic. “These aren’t exactly my style, but they’re what was available,” she muttered as an excuse as she grabbed a pair of boots and put them on.

Without looking at Kylo again, she walked over to the hand scanner that activated the door to her quarters. She placed her hand on the scanner, heard the beep, but the door failed to unlock and open.

“That’s odd, she frowned.

She tried the scanner again. Again, the scanner beeped, but the door remained closed.

“Are you sure that you’re able to get out of here?” Kylo asked.

“Of course, I’m sure. I’ve left this room plenty of time over the past few days.”

Kylo ran his hand through his hair. “Have you tried leaving in the middle of the night?”

“No,” Rey glared at him. “I didn’t have any reason to.”

Suddenly, the scanner beeped, and the pneumatic lock hissed, indicating that the door was about to open.

“See?” Rey turned around. “It was just slow or something.”

The door slid open, but before Rey could step through it, she was forced back into her quarters by the four men who entered--King Prana with three of his royal guards.

A sinister smile spread across King Prana’s face as he assessed the situation. “Well, well,” he chucked. “What do we have here?”

 

***

 

Kylo stiffened immediately. This is NOT how he thought this day was going to go.

With his guards flanking him, King Prana stepped into the room to stand immediately in front of the young man and woman who were now seated side-by-side on the bed. Wordlessly, he assessed the couple, nodding slightly before he spoke. “Ben Solo, it has been a long time.”

“Yes, it has,” Kylo replied flatly.

“Would you care to tell me why you broke into my palace? Are you here for your mother’s upcoming nuptials?” The King asked.

“That’s half of it,” Kylo muttered with obvious sarcasm.

Rey grabbed Kylo’s arm. The gesture surprised Kylo; did she see him as potential protection from the King? 

The King rubbed his chin, his gaze flitting from Kylo to Rey and then back to Kylo. “Let me guess, you’re here to stop me from marrying your mother…” He laughed before continuing, “...and to stop any marriage that I might set up for your girlfriend here.”

“She’s not my girlfr--” Kylo started before being cut off by Rey, who grabbed both of his hands in her own.

She looked into Kylo’s eyes with absolute sincerity and appeared to choose her words carefully. “It’s okay. I think we have to tell him, given the circumstances.”

Kylo nodded, not sure where she was going with this, but he was willing to play along.

Rey looked up at King Prana and stated earnestly, “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me here, but I can’t marry anyone else. My heart belongs to Ben.”

An act or not, Kylo couldn’t hide the grin that spread across his face. He held Rey’s hands, rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles as he continued the ruse, “You can’t split us up. The way I feel about Rey….  I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”    


King Prana laughed, stamping his foot once on the floor. “I knew it! I knew there was something going on between you two. There was something about the way that she was asking about you when you were younger, and I just knew,” he raised an eyebrow at Kylo.

The guard to the King’s left snorted, “Well, there can’t be too much going on between them if she’s still a virgin.”

“What we do in the bedroom is our own business,” Kylo snapped.

“I’d be snarky, too, if my hot girlfriend still hadn’t let me bone her yet,” the guard retorted.

Rey glared at the guard then did something that completely shocked Kylo. She grabbed him by the back of the head, smashing his lips into hers. It took him a second to realize what was happening--the realization dawning on him as Rey tried to jam her tongue into his mouth. Catching on, he parted his lips, permitting her tongue entrance. Kylo responded by placing his hands on her waist, squeezing lightly. Gripping his hair harder, she tried to deepen the kiss but only succeeded in scraping her front teeth against his. 

Clearly, it wasn’t the most graceful kiss, but unless Kylo was mistaken, there was a certain element of passion to it. The kiss felt surprisingly...unfake. Forgetting himself for a moment, he allowed his hand to wander over her back, lightly pulling her even closer to him. As much as she acted like she despised him, she certainly couldn’t  _ hate _ him and kiss him like this, could she?

Rey was the one to finally break the kiss. Kylo saw a look of shock on her face that he strongly suspected was mirrored on his own face. Without thinking, he placed his hands on either side of her face and quietly murmured, “It’s going to be okay. I promise, everything is going to be okay.”

Rey simply nodded in response, still quite clearly stunned, either by her own actions or by the feelings those actions had invoked.

King Prana chuckled. He reached around Kylo and slapped him hard on the back. “You’re a lucky man, Ben. Rey and I are just getting to know each other, but I can already tell that you’ve got quite a firecracker on your hands here.”

Kylo spoke with measured words. “Rey is her own person. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

With a smile on his face, the King shook his head and asked, “Rey, when we talked about him earlier, why didn’t you tell me that you and Ben were seeing each other?”

“Um, well--”

Seeing an opportunity, Kylo jumped in cut off whatever Rey had planned to say. “No one else knows yet. Rey is my student, so we’ve been keeping our relationship a secret.”

“Oh!” The King exclaimed. “Well, I guess I could see how those Jedi types might find a romantic relationship between a teacher and a student to be...inappropriate.”

“Yes, exactly!” Rey chimed in, with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.

King Prana looked around and nodded at his guards. Two guards lunged forward, each one grabbing grabbing Kylo and Rey by the hand then quickly snapping some sort of metal cuff onto their wrists.

“It’s a bit of a shame then, that I won’t be able to allow either of you to use your Force powers while you’re here.”

Kylo looked down at his wrist then glared up at the King.

The King continued, “As I’m sure you can guess, those are Force-suppressing cuffs. They will be removed when you eventually leave the palace.”

“So, we  _ are _ prisoners here,” Rey muttered bitterly.

“No, not prisoners. You are both my guests,” the King smiled again. “I just can’t have any further disruptions as we continue to make preparations for my upcoming wedding.” He then addressed Rey, “Given the newfound...complications...to your situation, we’ll figure out what to do for your own betrothal in the coming days.” He glanced at Kylo, “We might have some room for negotiation there.”

The King motioned to his guards, who grabbed Kylo and pulled him up from the bed. “Ben, we need to take you to be processed as our guest here. I’m sure that you understand?”

“I understand,” Kylo replied flatly.

“You’ll be able to see each other again soon,” the King promised.

As he was led out the door by the King and his guards, Kylo looked back over his shoulder to see Rey’s shell-shocked face as she sat at the edge of the bed.

 

***

 

Rey tossed and turned in her bed. In theory, she was trying to sleep. In reality, she was trying to mentally process what had just happened. She hadn’t even come to terms yet with the fact that she was apparently the long-lost daughter of a king, only to have her enemy break into her quarters to rescue her from an impending arranged marriage? 

None of it made any sense. Perhaps the thing that made the least amount of sense was the feeling that had surged through her when she had kissed Kylo. She didn’t exactly have a whole lot of experience with kissing, but was she had never had that fluttering feeling in her stomach before when she had kissed anyone else. Kylo  _ was _ still her enemy, technically, wasn’t he? Maybe the feeling was just the result of the adrenaline, given what had been going on in the moment. Not that it really mattered because she certainly wouldn’t be kissing Kylo again any time soon.

After drifting in and out of a light sleep for what seemed like several hours, Rey was jolted awake by the sound of the door beeping and sliding open. A tall figure shuffled into the room, setting some sort of bundle down on the bureau of drawers.

“Kylo? What are you doing back here?”

“Since you’re my  _ girlfriend _ , King Prana generously granted us the privilege of sharing quarters. I hope you don’t mind having a roommate for the duration of our stay here,” Kylo replied.

Without another word, Kylo picked something off of the bundle he had set on the dresser and disappeared into the ‘fresher, closing the door. A few minutes later, he re-emerged and dropped a pile of something from his arms to the floor. Through the dim light of the room, Rey watched as he walked over to the opposite side of the bed from where she lay, pulled back the covers, and flopped down onto the mattress, shaking the bed slightly in the process.

“What are you doing?” Rey blurted out.

Facing away from her, he mumbled, “Trying to get at least a little bit of sleep?”

“You can’t sleep in this bed.” 

“Yes, I can.” 

“I’m not comfortable with that.” Rey turned over and addressed the back of his head.

“I don’t care if you’re comfortable with it. If you want to move to the floor, be my guest. But after what I just went through  _ for you _ , I’m not moving from this bed.”

“Well, I’m not moving,” Rey stated.

“Fine, then don’t.” He rolled over, facing her. “Look, it’s a big bed. You stay on your side, and I’ll stay on my side. We’re supposed to meet with the General tomorrow for brunch, and I’d really like to try to get a little bit of sleep before having to deal with her again. You and I also have a  _ lot _ to talk about tomorrow. Okay?”

“Fine.” She rolled away from him, positioning herself as close to the edge of the bed as she could without falling off.

“Fine.”

Rey felt him roll back over and stared out into the darkness. She was so confused. Everything about him was so confusing. She had been terrified and then enraged by him the first time that they had met. Then he had somehow stalked her to Ahch-To for reasons that weren’t yet clear to her. And yet, he’d shown up here--broken into this palace--to help not only her but his mother. His mother, who it sounds like he’d possibly had to deal with when he’d been escorted from her room a few hours ago? She fixated on his use of the word “again” a moment ago. What had happened when they’d led him out of here? He’d seemed practically manic when he’d first gotten here; now, he seemed embittered and annoyed.

Rey tried to shrug off her concerns. Clearly, whether they wanted to or not, they’d be spending a lot of time together until they figured out a way to get out of here.  She turned her head to get one last glance at the mop of black hair on the pillow opposite hers before turning her head back the other way and closing her eyes so that she could finally get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again, wonderful readers, for all of your encouragement with this fic! Your kudos and comments are huge motivators!


	7. "Choices"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo/Ben and Leia finally meet again face to face. Unfortunately, the meeting takes place in King Prana's office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter...after breaking into Rey's quarters in hopes of breaking her and Leia out of King Prana's palace, Rey and Kylo argued over their previous encounter. Unfortunately, their bickering wasted so much time that King Prana was alerted, and Kylo was captured.

_ Several hours earlier… _

With a blaster pointed at his back, Kylo allowed himself to be led through a maze of palace hallways to the small room where Rey and her team had previously been “processed” upon their arrival. One of the royal guards slapped a GPS cuff on his wrist, just above the Force-suppressing cuff. Once Kylo had been secured, the King disappeared and assured Kylo that they would be talking again very soon. 

“Thanks for helping me accessorize,” Kylo muttered to no one in particular as he examined the quickly growing collection of cuffs on his wrist.

A grumpy Togruta woman, clearly unhappy about being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for this, jabbed Kylo’s hand into some sort of medical device, which drew a blood sample.

His blood taken, Kylo was again ushered down a series of hallways with a blaster at his back. Eventually, he was shoved through an open door into a small room with a large desk and several chairs. King Prana sat at one of the chairs, facing Kylo.

“Please, Ben, take a seat,” the King gestured.

“No thanks, I think I’ll stand.”

“Suit yourself,” the King shrugged.

“You can’t keep us here,” Kylo stated.

“Keep telling yourself that. You’ll stay here as long as I wish.” The King looked up and held Kylo’s gaze. “How does that Force suppression cuff feel? Comfortable?”

Kylo placed his hands at the edge of the King’s desk and leaned over, trying to look as menacing as he could. “You will release us immediately, or else I will make sure that you face very unpleasant consequences.”

The King tilted his head to the side and spoke calmly. “And how would that work? We searched the woods outside of the palace walls. We found your transport shuttle, and we know that you came here alone. I don’t know what you thought you were going to accomplish showing up here without any sort of backup; it didn’t seem like you really planned things out.” He leaned forward, bringing his face inches from Kylo’s. “Not that I’m complaining. Having you here gives me an extra bargaining chip with your mother.”

Kylo pulled his arm back, making a fist.

“Are you sure that you want to strike the King? Your future step-father?” King Prana sneered.

A commlink sitting on the King’s desk buzzed. 

“She’s here,” the voice on the other end announced.

The King pressed a button on the comm. “Good. Let her in.”

The heavy wooden office door opened, prompting Kylo to turn around. A petite brunette woman stepped into the office. With graying hair that was pinned up in braids to the top of her head, she was dressed in simple gray linen pants and a cream-colored linen tunic. Mother and son stared at each other for a few moments, each trying to determine the nature of their current situation.

Finally, Kylo spoke, hoping to establish the tone of their interaction. “Mother, I came as soon as I heard the news of your impending betrothal.” He took a step forward and nodded his head, trying to nonverbally communicate that even after what had happened with his father, his current intentions were benign.

General Organa regarded her son warily. Cautiously, she stepped forward with extended arms. Awkwardly, Kylo stood still and accepted her embrace.

“Ben, it’s good to see you again,” she said softly. 

Tentatively, Kylo placed his arms around his mother, pulling the diminutive woman into his chest. He lowered his head to whisper into her ear, “I never wanted any of this to happen.” 

“We’ll have this conversation later,” General Organa murmured, pulling back slightly to look up at her son.

Kylo bent down and whispered again, “I’m going to get us all out of this. Just play along.”

“Isn’t this touching?” the King chuckled, breaking the General and her son out of the moment. “Leia, I only called you in here because I thought that you would want to know that your little punk of a son broke in here to disrupt our plans.”

“ _ Our _ plans?” The General stepped back, breaking the embrace with her son and clearly annoyed. “Regardless of whatever impression you had, I never said that I was going to marry you.”

King Prana smiled. “You say that now, but I can be very persuasive.”

Kylo’s mood quickly changed from calm to restrained rage. He wheeled around to face the King, who was now standing behind his desk. “How DARE you threaten my mother! If you lay a single finger on her without her consent, I’ll--”

“Oh, she’ll consent. Besides, Ben, I don’t think you want to anger me too much while your  _ girlfriend _ is here under my roof.”

“Girlfriend?!?” General Organa exclaimed.

Maintaining eye contact with his mother and hoping that she’d get the hint, Kylo slowly began to explain. “Rey hasn’t told you yet?”

The General watched him carefully, waiting a moment before replying. “No...she hasn’t.”

“When Rey came to train with Luke and I, Luke thought it would be a good idea for me to take her on as my padawan. We quickly realized that there was a mutual...attraction between us,” Kylo continued.

General Organa nodded, not completely hiding the look of suspicion on her face. “Okay...”

“We tried to resist our feelings, but we weren’t able to. Obviously, we haven’t told anyone because we knew that Master Luke would be disappointed in us. However, when I saw the news story about what was going on here--that King Prana was apparently Rey’s father and that he’s trying to marry her off without her consent, I had to come here and try to help Rey.”

“You came here for Rey?” The General couldn’t hide her skepticism.

“And you,” Kylo said quietly. Feeling very uncomfortable, he stared at the floor. “I know what goes on here,” he looked up and met his mother’s gaze again. “Regardless of what has happened in the past, I couldn’t let him do that to you.”

The King walked around to the front of his desk, leaning back against it with his hands on the edge. He drummed his fingers on the desktop. “This certainly creates some options for all of you.” 

Both Kylo’s and General Organa’s attention was now fixed on the King. 

“Options?” The General exclaimed. “No one is choosing any of your options. I’m not marrying you, and you’re not forcing Rey into some arranged marriage, either. She’s coming home with us.”

“And how do you think you’re going to do that? None of you are leaving here until I allow it.” He walked over to the General and lightly placed his hand on her arm. “Leia, it’s no secret that I’ve been in love with you for many years. I was patient. I waited.” 

The King stepped directly in front of the General, wedging himself between her and her son, who stepped to the side. “I kept thinking that you would come to your senses and finally leave that smuggler.” 

Kylo watched as the King stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. He felt his anger rising. Without realizing it, his hands balled into fists.

The King continued. “Did you even know that I sent your husband on a job to collect rathtars for my zoo? I was hoping to take care of the problem that way,” he leaned in closer, his mouth inches from her ear. “Shockingly, he was able to successfully procure the rathtars, but my temporary disappointment was quickly alleviated when I heard that the First Order did the only good thing they’ve ever done by finishing him off.”

Kylo snapped. He pulled his arm back. He would have landed a right hook to the King’s jaw, if General Organa’s arm hadn’t shot out and stopped Kylo’s punch. All of the pain that Kylo’s act of murder had cost him--the murder that Snoke had knowingly asked him to commit under the guise of passing a test of loyalty--had ended up causing Kylo nothing but unfathomable mental anguish. And the King simply laughed it off like it was nothing. Of course, the King didn’t know the whole story; to most of the universe, Ben Solo was still Ben Solo and had no connection to Kylo Ren of the First Order.

“Ben…” the General stated firmly, shaking her head. “I know that you’re upset, but this isn’t the time or place for this.”

King Prana laughed. “I’ll let that go, this time. I can understand your anger, given that you believe that I intend to not only become your step-father, but also marry your girlfriend off to another man.” He leaned against the desk and paused for a moment. “I will tell you this; I am an ambitious man, but I am not a cruel man. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I would like to create a union between my own family and the Skywalker family. I will give you a choice, which I will allow the two of you to discuss.”

“Great, a choice,” Kylo rolled his eyes.

Clearing his throat, King Prana continued, his eyes on the General. “Princess Leia, I have been in love with you since the day I met you. I would love nothing more than for you to become my wife. However, I also realize that with this opportunity not presenting itself until now, you would not be able to bear any of my children.” 

The King turned his head to face Kylo. “Ben, you know that one of my daughters has always been very fond of you. Perhaps you would consider inseminating her in exchange for your mother’s freedom?”

“You’re disgusting,” Kylo glared at him.

“I thought you might say something along that line,” the King smiled. “Let me ask you this, how serious are you about Rey?”

Kylo knew where the King was going with this, he could feel his blood pressure rising. He chose his words carefully, “Rey is the most special woman that I have ever met.”

“Perhaps you would consider marrying Rey, since she is also one of my daughters? I must imagine that your relationship is still in its infancy, given that you haven’t even consummated it yet. But if you truly care for her, I assume that you would rather marry her yourself rather than giving her up for one of my...political arrangements?”

Kylo looked over at his mother, who gave him a stern look in response. “I don’t know how to answer that,” he stated, with anger clear in his voice.

“My proposal to you, Ben, is that if you would like to marry Rey, you can do so, here in my palace, and upon your wedding, I will immediately release your mother. I am confident that you would produce an heir for me with Skywalker blood.”

Kylo shook his head and laughed bitterly. “Really? So you’re just looking to use Rey as breeding stock? I shouldn’t be surprised, but…” his voice trailed off.

“Don’t think of it that way.” The King placed his hand on Kylo’s upper arm. “Take a few days to think things over. Discuss it with your mother.” He smiled at General Organa. “Consider this an opportunity to get your son to finally settle down and pave the way for grandbabies.”

General Organa rolled her eyes. “You’re even more of a pig than I thought. So, now, will we be staying in the prison block until we choose the least objectionable option?”

“Prison block?” The King raised his eyebrows and slyly grinned. “Of course, not. You’re my guests here. You’ll be escorted back to your rooms. And please, continue to make yourselves at home here.” He waved his arms in an attempted welcoming gesture.

“That’s so kind of you,” Kylo muttered sarcastically. 

“Now Ben, as a token of my generosity, I will permit you and your girlfriend to stay together in the same quarters.”

Instantaneously, a small grin appeared on Kylo's face, which he failed to completely hide. If he was going to be stuck here until they escaped, he could think of far worse things than being stuck in close quarters with Rey. And she had kissed him.  _ She _ had kissed  _ him _ . Maybe she didn’t think of him as being quite so much of a monster after all? Regardless as to whether it was part of a ruse, or whether she was just grateful that someone had come to help her out, she couldn’t be too repulsed by him, given her actions earlier that night.

On the other hand, General Organa couldn’t hide her shock at King Prana’s offer. “That’s really not necessary. My son can stay in his own room or with me,” she threw a hard look at Kylo.

“Nonsense,” the King grinned. “They’re both adults. And I am hoping that by promoting intimacy, it might make their decision easier. In any case, I want you all to enjoy your time here. Feel free to mingle. Have brunch together tomorrow and discuss things as a family. I am confident enough in our security measures that you won’t cause any further trouble here.”

King Prana picked up the commlink from the desk and spoke to his guards, “Please escort the Princess and her son to their rooms for the night.”

 

***

Rey awoke that morning to bright sunlight streaming into her room. Had the events of last night even really happened? She lifted her wrist; sure enough, a Force suppressing cuff was now attached just above the GPS tracking cuff. She rolled over to her other side, facing the middle of the bed. Kylo Ren still appeared to be soundly asleep; he was currently laying on his stomach with his face turned towards Rey.

Kylo Ren, of all people, had broken into her room last night, claiming that he was there to break both her and General Organa out from King Prana’s palace. She shook her head at the absurdity of the situation; Rey had spent the better part of her life waiting for her family to come back to her on Jakku, and who should actually be the person to show up to rescue her? The same man who had kidnapped her, invaded her thoughts, murdered her mentor and his own father, and injured her friend Finn. 

Rey studied Kylo as he slept. He looked surprisingly peaceful. His hair had grown longer since their last encounter and was now framing his sleeping face. The bed covers had been shoved down around his waist, leaving his shirtless back exposed to Rey’s gaze. She didn’t want to stare, but he appeared to be sound asleep and would be none the wiser, so she leaned over slightly to get a better look. His back was unbelievably broad and toned with a few scars littered here and there. Rey wasn’t sure what she was expecting his back to look like, but she found it oddly fascinating.

“Enjoying the view?” Kylo mumbled sleepily.

Startled, Rey whipped her face back, then slowly looked back at him. “You’re awake,” she stated, trying to hide her embarrassment. His eyes were now open and he was now staring up at her from where his head rested on the pillow.

“I am awake. What time is it?” Kylo rolled over and sat up. 

Rey couldn’t help noticing Kylo’s bare torso again as he sat up in bed, the sheet still pooled aroundhis waist. He was unbelievably broad shouldered and much like his back, his chest appeared to be perfectly toned. She’d hoped that she was able to avert her gaze before being noticed and looked around the room for a clock, and not finding one, grabbed her holopad off of the night table and checked the time. “It’s almost 1000 hours.”

“Kriff,” Kylo ran his hand through his hair. “We’re supposed to meet the General for brunch in a half hour.”

“Brunch? So, we’ve just been put under heavier security, and they’re going to let us meet up for brunch?”

“I guess so,” he shrugged. “When I got pulled in to meet with King Prana and the General last night--after I was dragged from here--the King made it clear that he didn’t want us to feel like we weren’t his ‘guests’ while we were here.” Kylo emphasized the word “guests” with a mocking tone.

“You know,” Rey smirked, “when you kidnapped me, you also told me that I was your ‘guest’.”

Kylo glared at her, “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“What--kidnapping me or trying to sugarcoat the fact that I was your prisoner?”

“Get over it,” he shook his head and slid out of bed, drawing Rey’s attention once again to his muscular chest. He wore a pair of loose-fitting sleep pants that hung from his hips. He walked over to Rey’s side of the bed and leaned over, and spat out, “I came here to  _ help _ you, putting myself at great risk. Clearly, that was a mistake.”

“I never asked for your help!”

“No, apparently, you were just going to stick around here under your father’s false hospitality until he married you off to some stranger for his benefit.”

“I--,” Rey started, then caught herself. He was right about that, apparently. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome,” Kylo turned and walked towards the ‘fresher. “There’s only time for one of us to take a shower, and I probably need one more than you do,”

“That’s generous of you.”

He turned and smirked at her, “You’re welcome to join me, if you’d prefer.”

For a split second, Rey pictured Kylo naked, under a stream of hot running water. The she caught herself in her thoughts, her face instantly becoming hot. She hoped that she wasn’t obviously blushing. “No thank you,” she said to the wall, avoiding eye contact with him. 

Kylo was about to disappear into the ‘fresher when Rey found her nerve to speak again. “Hey, what happened last night after they took you away? Is there anything that I should know?”

“Yeah, be prepared to continue with the boyfriend-girlfriend act a while longer. King Prana said that since we’re together, he’d hold off on marrying you off to anyone right away. I’m also going to be your escort for that gala tomorrow night.”

Kylo then shut himself inside the ‘fresher before Rey had a chance to respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> King Prana really is a creep, isn't he? And how long will Kylo and Rey be able to keep up the charade of their fake relationship? Will Kylo and his mother ever get the chance to start repairing their relationship? We'll start to find out those things in next week's update...
> 
> Thank you, wonderful readers, for your enthusiastic reception to this fic!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang regroups and begins to formulate an escape plan. Kylo and Rey discuss how to make their fake relationship more believable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously... Kylo broke into Rey's quarters in the palace in an attempt to rescue Rey and Leia. Kylo was captured by King Prana and when questioned, continued to perpetuate the fake relationship between Kylo and Rey. Upon waking up the next morning, Rey and Kylo exchanged snarky comments, and Rey got caught checking Kylo out.

Brunch was about as awkward as Kylo had expected it to be. The palace had a separate kitchen for guests with an outdoor dining area, which is where General Organa had suggested that the group meet that morning. He noted that the table had already been set with a basket of rolls and pitchers of juice and caf. Kylo took a seat next to Rey on one side of the table, opposite of the General and Poe. 

Without even bothering to make eye contact with Poe, Kylo glared at his mother. “What’s he doing here?”

Poe looked up, confused. “Have we met before?”

“He doesn’t know?” Kylo asked.

“Doesn’t know what?” Poe glanced around the table.

With a slight look of panic on her face, Rey grabbed Kylo’s arm. “You didn’t know that Ben and I are dating.”

Poe snorted. “You’re not dating anyone. I’d know if you were.”

“For our purposes here, they’re dating,” the General stated sternly, then added, “I was not aware of this, but apparently, King Prana began advertising for suitors for Rey as soon as he announced that he’d found his long-lost daughter.  We would, obviously, like to put a stop to that, and the King has agreed to respect the...relationship...between Ben and Rey, at least for now.”

“So, you two are doing the fake dating thing? Got it.” Poe grabbed a roll out of the basket and took a large bite.

Kylo and Rey exchanged glances. “Yes,” they answered in unison.

“Works for me,” Poe shrugged, taking another bite of his roll. “Not that it’s any of my business.”

A palace servant approached the table, carrying baskets with array of fruits and pastries. Before anyone else had a chance to do so, Rey snatched two beignets out of the pastry basket.

Kylo smirked. “I didn’t know that they had beignets back on Jakku.”

“They didn’t,” Rey replied, taking a bite. “We don’t have them on base, either, which is why I am going to eat as many of them as I possibly can while we’re here.”

“Speaking of which, we need to start coming up with a plan as to how we might be able to get out of here,” the General picked a piece of fruit out of a basket and casually added, “Unless, of course, you two want to get married.”

“Right,” Rey grabbed a pitcher of caf and poured a cup for herself. “I’ve been thinking about that.” She added a generous amount of cream and sugar to the cup. 

“Have some caf with your sugar and cream?” Kylo remarked with a raised eyebrow before pouring himself a cup of caf.

“I like it this way,” Rey stated pointedly. 

“How do you two know each other again?” Poe asked.

“It’s a long story,” Rey sighed, shaking her head and then changing the subject. “Anyway, since none of us here can use the Force, which would have been our easiest option, I was thinking that maybe I could hack into the palace security system and disable the GPS bracelets that way.”

Poe frowned. “With us under such tight security, how do you expect to do that?”

Rey leaned forward, lowered her voice, and grinned. “They never confiscated my holopad. If I properly encrypt my connection, I should be able to at least look around their security system so that we can figure out what we’re up against.”

“When can you get started?” The General asked.

“As soon as I get back to my room, if I can find a compatible port to connect to.”

General Organa clasped her hands on top of the table. “Okay, let’s plan on that, then.” 

Kylo leaned back. “So that’s it? We’re just going to sit around and wait for the little Jedi here to hack into the system and save us?”

“At least I’m doing something.” Rey snapped. 

“I  _ tried _ to do something. If it wasn’t for me, King Prana would be marrying you off to the highest bidder.”

“Enough!” General Organa slammed her hand down on the table. She turned to her son. “Ben, there is something that you can do to help while Rey investigates the system.”

“And what’s that?”

The General lowered her voice again. “Just because you two can’t use the Force doesn’t mean that  _ I _ can’t.” She held up her wrist to emphasize that unlike Rey and Kylo, she hadn’t been forced to wear a Force suppression cuff.

“But you never trained in the Force,” Kylo frowned.

“Not really, outside of a few things that Luke taught me, but I’m a fast learner.” She leaned forward. “Teach me what I need to know to get those cuffs off of you and Rey. Then the two of you can do what you need to do to get  _ all _ of us out of here.”

Kylo snorted. “I don’t know what could possibly go wrong with that plan.”

“Do you have a better one?”

“No.”

“Well, until you do, I suggest that we give it a try. Are we done eating yet?”

The group nodded.

The General rose from the table. “Rey, go ahead and see what you can find out. Ben, come with me. We’ll find a place quiet to to get started.”

Poe stood up. “Is there anything that I can do?”

“Just be your usual social and friendly self.” General Organa smiled. “Obviously, be subtle, but it would certainly be helpful to find out if anyone here might be sympathetic to our cause.”

“You got it, General.”

General Organa smiled wistfully, “We can meet later to check in with each other. If we’re lucky, we might have an escape plan in place before that damn gala tomorrow.”

 

***

 

Sullenly, Kylo Ren followed his mother to a quiet part of the palace gardens where conveniently, two benches sat under a shade tree. Pretty much the last place in the galaxy that he wanted to be was alone with her right now. For a few minutes, he stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

Finally, Leia spoke, an even tone to her voice. “Shall we get started then?”

“Sure,” Kylo muttered, staring at the ground. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Kylo blurted out. “This doesn’t mean anything. None of this means anything. I can’t-- I’m not going back with you after this. When we get out of here, we go our separate ways.” He felt his cheeks redden at his outburst and quickly stared back at the ground again. The thought briefly crossed his mind about mentioning taking Rey with him, at least temporarily, when he left, but he decided to leave that detail out of the conversation for now.

“Ben.” Leia lightly grasped her son’s wrist. When he didn’t immediately respond, she repeated herself. “Ben, look at me.”

Kylo looked up. He had defiance on his face and tears in his eyes. “What?”

“Ben, what are you doing here? Really?”

“I-- I-- didn’t think things through. When I saw the news that you were supposedly engaged to King Prana, I knew that couldn’t be your own choice. I couldn’t let him force marriage...or anything else on you.”

“Thank you. I mean that,” she paused. “Does anyone from the First Order know that you’re here?”

Kylo shook his head. “No. And to answer your next question, I used a different ship and disabled the trackers, so no, we shouldn’t be in any imminent danger from a First Order attack. Although, the longer that I’m gone, the greater the chance there is of someone figuring out where I went.”

Leia reached out with her other hand, taking both of her son’s hands in her own. “If you won’t come back with us, will you at least consider leaving the First Order? I can have my network circulate the news that you were killed. It would give you the chance for a fresh start.”

“If I go back, the worst that happens is that I’m punished for leaving on my own. If I leave altogether, I’ve committed...treason. The Supreme Leader will never allow me to leave.”

“Ben,” she leaned forward. “I have resources. I can protect you, if you allow me.”

“I’ll think about it,” Kylo replied unconvincingly. 

They sat quietly for a few moments again, with Kylo being the one to break the silence. “So what has your brother taught you about the Force?”

“Not much. We’ve done some meditation--”

Kylo burst out laughing. “He does love his meditation. I bet that’s what he’s been having Rey work on for the past few weeks, too, isn’t it?”

Leia smiled. “He does love his meditation.” Suddenly, her expression changed from one of warmth to one of concern. “You like Rey, don’t you? You’re also here for her, aren’t you?”

“What? No, of course not!” He pulled his hand back from his mother. “I mean, I figured that if I was going to break you out of here, I might as well break her out, too.”

Leia continued to prod her son. “Remember, I was around you when you were a teenager. I saw how you’d act when you had a crush on a girl. You show off the same way around Rey that you did back then.”

“I respect her; I don’t  _ like _ her.” He clenched his fists. “Look, are we going to do this or not?”

Leia’s gaze narrowed. “If you do anything to  _ hurt _ her or manipulate her…”

“Why are you worried about her, when she was the one to give me this?” he pointed to the scar that crossed his face.

“You deserved that.”

Kylo lowered his voice. “Maybe I did.” He paused, then looked up with a mischievous grin. “I don’t know why you’re so concerned about her. You know... _ she _ kissed  _ me _ .”

“What? When?” General Organa couldn’t hide her shock.

“When King Prana found me in her room. She kissed me to emphasize the point that we’re in a relationship.” Kylo leaned back and crossed his arms, looking a bit smug.

“Oh. That was it?”

“She’s not exactly repulsed by me, if she did that.”

Leia shook her head, rolling her eyes. “You know, I once kissed your uncle to prove a point to your father.”

Kylo averted his gaze, suddenly focusing his attention on his shoes. “We should get started working on the Force. Did Luke teach you anything about physically manipulating objects?”

“No,” Leia replied, watching her son.

“I didn’t think he would have.” Kylo held out his wrist and pointed to the Force suppression cuff. “It’s not going to be easy, but if there’s a way to simply ‘turn off’ the Force suppression power here, that would be the ideal way to go. Prana’s people wouldn’t be able to pick up on the cuffs being disabled, which would buy us more time and freedom. The problem with that is that I don’t really know how these particular cuffs work--I’ve never seen a model like this before. If we can’t turn off the cuffs, we can simply have you remove them. Removing the cuffs should simply be a matter of manipulating the locking mechanism, which I know should be doable once you know how.”

The General nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. How do we start.”

Kylo looked around, then plucked a blade of grass from the ground. He tied the blade into a loose knot, then held it in his outstretched hand. “Untie this knot using only your mind,” he instructed.

“What does that have to do with the cuff on your wrist?”

“It’s the same concept. Using your mind to manipulate the blade of grass requires the same Forces skills as unlocking a cuff,” Kylo explained calmly.

Leia stared at the blade of grass and closed her eyes in concentration. Kylo watched her for a moment and then closed his own eyes to better be able to sense his mother’s probing of the Force. For several minutes, he felt absolutely nothing. Finally, he felt a very faint tug through the Force. He opened his eyes and watched the blade of grass. It didn’t move. He felt the tug again, confirming that his mother at least had been able to find the Force, and then sat and waited patiently.

Finally, his mother opened her eyes and immediately scowled at the untouched blade of grass in Kylo’s hand. “Nothing?” she asked.

A small smile crossed Kylo’s face. “Definitely not nothing. You might not have made any progress with the knot, but I’m pretty sure that you found my Force signature. That’s a very good first step.”

The General sighed. “I don’t know how you ever had the patience for this...”

 

***

 

Rey had been laying on her stomach on her bed, in deep concentration with her holopad when she heard a “beep.” The door to her quarters slid open, and Kylo Ren walked in. Rey dropped the holopad and grumbled, “Don’t you ever knock?”

“It’s my room, too, you know” Kylo retorted. 

“What if--” Rey was cut off by General Organa pushing past Kylo to enter the room.

“How did it go this afternoon?” the General asked.

Rey’s demeanor instantly changed. “I was able to get onto the network with a faked signature,” she grinned. “Now, I haven’t found anything about how to disable our GPS trackers yet, but I did find a lot of other interesting things.”

“Such as?” the General walked further into the room.

“I know where they’re keeping our lightsabers and blasters.”

“Good. Anything else?” 

“Not yet. I did see that they have a historical record of anyone who ever was born, lived, or died within the palace” Rey grimaced slightly. “I want to look, but I’m sort of afraid to. I don’t know what I’m going to find there.”

General Organa sat down next to Rey on the bed and rubbed the younger woman’s upper arm. “You don’t have to look if you don’t want to. And if you do want to look and want some moral support, I’m here for that.”

“Thank you,” Rey replied.

The General turned her head to survey the room, and her expression changed to a frown. “Where is the door to Ben’s room?”

“There isn’t one.” Rey met Kylo’s gaze and shifted to a sitting position on the bed; he smirked in response.

“What? Don’t you have a suite of rooms?”

“No, Mother, we were not granted the ‘royal suite’, like you apparently were,” Kylo responded sarcastically.

General Organa stood up and surveyed the room again. “Well, where’s Ben’s bed then?” 

“This is it,” Rey shrugged.

“No.” the General stated flatly, crossing her arms.

“What?” Kylo asked.

“No,” the General turned to face her son. “You are not sharing a room, let alone a bed, with Rey. Ben, get your things. I have a two-bedroom suite. You’re staying with me.”

“Come on, you know that I’m only staying here to protect Rey.” He threw up his hands.

“I’m sure that’s your only motivation here,” the General rolled her eyes.

“I don’t need to be protected. I can take care of myself,” Rey grumbled.

“I’m not comfortable with you sharing quarters with Rey,” General Organ stated.

“Maybe I’m not comfortable sharing quarters with Rey, either.”  Kylo ran his hand through his hair and blurted out. “But if the goal here is to make it look like Rey and and I are in a relationship, how is it going to look if I were to choose to stay with my  _ mother _ instead of my hot girlfriend?”

Rey looked at Kylo in shock, who immediately blushed upon realizing what he had just said and looked away from Rey.

“Rey? How do you feel about this?” the General asked, her tone softening.

Rey shook her head and cautiously looked up at Kylo, who was still avoiding eye contact with her. Her first instinct was to answer “Confused,” but she caught herself and carefully answered, “No, I think he’s right. If we’re supposed to be in a relationship, it would make more sense for us to stay together. I mean, we can sleep at opposite edges of the bed--that’s what we did last night.”

The General raised her eyebrows. “Okay…” She looked from her son to Rey and back to her son again. “Are you both alright with me leaving you and heading back to my quarters for now?”

Rey and Kylo both looked at each other and nodded. “We’ll be fine,” Rey replied.

“I will see you both later, then.” General Organa turned around and exited the room.

 

***

Rey and Kylo sat on the bed, their dinner dishes scattered around them; Rey had opted to avoid the kitchen, so Kylo had dinner served to their room. They’d shared an awkward meal where they had avoided both conversation and making eye contact with one another. Currently, Rey was engrossed in her findings from the holopad while Kylo read and watched her findings over her shoulder. 

“Hmmmm…  Well, this is bizarre,” Rey murmured.

“What did you find?” Kylo asked.

“Did you know that King Prana once appointed a horse to his advisory council? The stuff in these archives is unbelieveable.”

“Really? Let me see...” Kylo leaned in closer--close enough for Rey to feel his breath on her neck. 

Instinctively, Rey recoiled and leaned away from him.

“What? I didn’t even touch you.” Kylo shook his head.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Geez, last night, you jam your tongue into my mouth, but now, you flinch if I even come close to you.”

Rey clasped her hands, embarrassed. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have done that last night. I was just trying to convince the King. Thank you for going along with it, by the way.”  She stole a glance in Kylo’s direction.

He sighed. “You’re never going to convince Prana and his buddies that you and I are in a relationship if you act like you can’t stand being touched by me.”

“No, I know. You’re right,” she admitted, sheepishly.

“I have an idea, although you’re probably not going to like it.” He leaned back against the headboard and snuck a look at Rey.

“And what’s that?”

“I think that we should practice.”

“Practice?”

Kylo nodded with a look of sincerity.  “We should practice acting like a couple, so we appear more natural when we’re out in public.”

Rey shot him a skeptical look. 

“I’m not suggesting that we sleep together,” he continued, “But you shouldn’t appear to be uncomfortable if I say, put my arm around you or hold your hand.”

“Okay…” Rey still wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“The gala is what’s important, as far as looking like we’re a real couple. We’ve got over a full standard day until then. I think we should just start out trying to be comfortable with each other, and maybe work our way up to trying dancing together, depending on how it goes?”

“Dancing?” Rey snorted.

“Remember, I am supposed to be your escort at that gala. If we look too incompetent on the dance floor, we’ll draw unwanted attention to ourselves.”

“Fair point.”

“Does that sound like an acceptable plan?”

“Sure, I think I can handle that,” she shrugged.

Kylo leaned back against the headboard. “Come here,” he motioned.

Rey did as she was instructed and scooted back so that she was sitting with her back against the headboard, next to Kylo. “Now what do we do?”

“Well, what would you want to do if I was your actual boyfriend?” 

Out of instinct, Rey looked at Kylo’s lips, blushed, and quickly looked away. Was he trying to flirt with her? Her mind immediately went back to their first encounter in the interrogation room where his words had seemed to be laced with double entendres.

Rey stared straight ahead, careful to avoid eye contact and the emotion out of her voice. “I don’t know. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“We could just talk. You know, get to know each other?” he suggested.

Something about his voice sent a shiver through Rey; she knew that she should be afraid of him, but part of her was finding this interaction slightly thrilling. Trying to reassert her confidence, Rey caught his gaze again and replied. “Okay, sure. What do you do for fun? You know, when you’re not hacking things with your lightsaber or reading prisoners’ minds.”

Kylo broke eye contact and snorted. “Such a shock that you’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“What? And you’ve had a ton of girlfriends, I bet? I can’t see the Supreme Leader letting you off your leash to date much.” She turned her head in defiance, but then quickly glanced back to see Kylo’s reaction.

Kylo grinned and leaned in closer. “I’ve had...relations.”

“Congratulations.” Rey crossed her arms and stared ahead.

“Have you even kissed anyone before?”

“Yes, why?” She frowned.

“The kiss that you gave me in front of King Prana...it was less than elegant.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Sorry that it didn’t meet your standards. I’ll try harder next time.”

“That’s what I was going to suggest.”

Trying to remain as motionless as possible, Rey glanced over at him. He had leaned in even closer to her; he was so close now that she could feel the heat from his body. She pressed back into the headboard, as if that was going to somehow gain her any significant personal space. When she spoke, there was an unmistakable tremble in her voice. “And what are you suggesting?”

“Practice.” He smirked. “You need a teacher.”

“I-- I don’t think we should,” Rey stammered. She felt herself blush and mentally cursed herself for revealing how nervous he was making her feel.

“You were the one who decided to take the idea of me being your boyfriend and run with it. Don’t you at least want us appear to be a believable couple?” 

“Yes, but...”

“Lesson number one, close your eyes when I lean in towards you like this…”

Acting on instinct, Rey found herself closing her eyes as instructed. She felt his hand lightly cup the side of her jaw, and then his lips connected with hers, sending a fluttering feeling to her stomach. Kylo lightly sucked her bottom lip, pulling back for a split second, then re-ignited the kiss. Acting on instinct, Rey’s hands flew to Kylo’s shoulders, lightly pulling him towards her. He responded by parting his lips, which Rey quickly mimicked, allowing their tongues entrance to each others’ mouths. He placed his hands at her waist, and Rey discovered that she very much liked the feeling of his hands on her. She also felt a twinge of self-loathing for that discovery, but then she reminded herself that no matter how this felt in the moment, it wasn’t real. She and Kylo were both simply actors rehearsing for a performance, and she couldn’t let herself get swept up in the moment. No matter how good kissing Kylo felt right now, it didn’t change anything between them.

Eventually, Kylo broke the kiss and pulled back, leaving both of them breathing slightly heavily. Stunned, at what had just transpired, Rey was unable to do anything but stare at him.

His smouldering gaze fixed on her, Kylo softly murmured, “ _ That _ was definitely an improvement.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again, wonderful readers for your amazing reception to this fic! Your kudos and comments continue to be huge sources of motivation for me!


	9. Practice makes perfect?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo continue to "practice" acting like a couple. Also contains the first Reylo dancing scene of this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter, our gang regrouped at brunch, following Kylo's palace break-in the night before. As one component of their escape plan, Kylo began to teach his mother the ways of the Force. The chapter ended with Rey and Kylo engaging in a "practice" kiss so as to more likely appear believable as a couple by palace occupants.

As Kylo pulled back from the kiss, he murmured, “ _ That _ was definitely an improvement.” 

He remained focused on Rey, trying to assess her reaction. As much as they were under the guise of “rehearsing” for public appearances, Rey’s response to his kiss felt like anything but acting. He read the expression on her face as confusion, but fortunately, he didn’t see any disgust or repulsion there. 

Kylo’s hand still cupping her jaw, he brushed the side of her neck with his thumb and spoke softly, “I think we should try again, don’t you?” 

Apparently unable to find the right words to respond, Rey simply nodded.

Again, Kylo leaned in and pressed his lips to Rey’s. She was less tentative this time, as one of her hands flew to the back of his head so that she could run her fingers through his hair. She placed her other hand at Kylo’s shoulder, gently pushing him backwards as she briefly broke the kiss to shift up to her knees. Much to Kylo’s surprise, she swung one of her legs over his legs so that she was now straddling his lap. He grasped her waist and hungrily re-started the kiss, running his tongue through her open lips and teeth. A thought passed through his mind that he should pull her down fully into his lap, but then she wouldn’t be able to miss how hard he was becoming, and he wasn’t sure how she’d react to that. Surely, she had to know that this was turning him on? Even a scavenger from Jakku couldn’t be that naive.

Noticing that her tunic had ridden up to Rey’s waist, Kylo decided to test the waters of pushing things further by slipping his hand under the tunic’s hem. The skin of her torso was amazingly soft. Lightly, he rubbed his fingers over the bare skin of her back. The move seemed to startle Rey, who paused for a moment, before returning her focus to Kylo. Encouraged by the fact that she didn’t swat his hand away, he cautiously moved his hand further up her back, allowing the base of the palm of his hand to lightly brush the side of Rey’s covered breast. That move, apparently, was pushing things too far. Rey quickly withdrew and sat back on Kylo’s thighs.

Neither one of them spoke at first; instead, they sat lightly panting and alternating between making and avoiding eye contact with each other.

Finally, Rey shrugged and grinned nervously. “So, um, was that kiss better than the one before it?”

A wave of relief washed over Kylo. If Rey could pretend that Kylo hadn’t just tried to touch her breast, he could certainly go along with it, especially if it kept things from getting any more awkward.  He nodded, “Yes, that was even better than the first one.” He smiled then added, “You’re definitely a good actress.”

“Thank you,” Rey grinned and swung her leg to climb off of Kylo. 

“So, um, did you want to practice some more?” Kylo played with the hem of his tunic, hoping to not sound too eager.

“Probably not for now. I know that we’re just acting and all, but I felt like we were starting to get a little carried away there.” 

Kylo sighed and tried to hide his disappointment, although he appreciated the non-embarrassing way that she acknowledged that he’d tried to push things. And she did say “we were starting to get carried away,” not “he”. Was she, perhaps, starting to admit to herself that maybe she was at least a little attracted to him? No one in their right mind would kiss a “monster” the way that she had kissed him.

Regaining his composure, Kylo replied, “You’re probably right. Maybe again later?”

“Maybe again later.” Rey slid off the bed and walked over to the chest of drawers. “I’m going to get ready for bed.” She grabbed a set of nightclothes out of one of the drawers and walked around to Kylo’s side of the bed.

“I’m sure that it’s no big deal to you, but it would be weird to me to go farther when we’re just play-acting.” She pressed a gentle kiss to Kylo’s forehead and entered the ‘fresher.

Kylo ran a hand through his hair as he watched as Rey cross the room. He was thankful that she was the first one to get up, giving him a few minutes for his raging erection to subside before seeing her again.

 

***

 

As soon as she entered the ‘fresher, Rey dropped her nightclothes onto the floor and ran the sink faucet. She splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. What the kriff had just happened out there? If she hadn’t known better, Rey would have thought that she had just made out with Kylo Ren. And if she were truthful with herself, she quite enjoyed it, as evidenced by the heat that had been pooling between her legs. 

What was wrong with her? Even if she no longer thought of him as a monster, she had no business starting a physical relationship with Kylo Ren. Rey laughed at herself. Wait, this wasn’t starting  _ anything _ , she reminded herself. They were simply acting. It didn’t mean anything, and if Rey let herself get a bit swept away, that was her fault. Kylo was right; if they were going to appear as a believable couple in front of King Prana and his friends, they needed to be comfortable enough to act physically affectionate with each other around other people.

“Pull yourself together, Rey,” she spoke aloud to her reflection. “You are going to go back out there and act like what just happened was no big deal, and you are going to go to sleep. Got it?” She nodded to her reflection.

Without any more hesitation, Rey quickly changed into the nightclothes that she had selected for that night--a silk camisole and a set of sleep pants. She had hoped for a more modest option; but there were none in the dresser of clothing given to her by King Prana.

She opened the door, climbed into bed, and smiled at Kylo, “The ‘fresher is all yours now.”

 

***

 

Rey woke up before Kylo the next morning. He slept on his stomach with his face turned towards Rey’s side of the bed. She watched him for a moment, wondering how someone who looked so peaceful when he slept could have so much inner turmoil and also cause so much turmoil in the world around him. She debated whether to wake him up, but instead opted to grab the ‘fresher while it was unoccupied. Quietly, Rey slipped out of the bed, selected a casual change of clothing, and headed to the shower.

Emerging from the ‘fresher, Rey found Kylo awake and sitting up in bed. He was shirtless because, of course, he was. She was torn between wanting to gawk at his bare, toned chest and needing to look away so as to not get caught checking out his body. 

“Good shower?” Kylo asked.

“Yup,” she replied, trying not to stare at him as he slid out of bed and headed into the ‘fresher.

While the shower ran, Rey used her holopad to poke around on the network, trying to see if there was any way that she could send an encrypted message out to Finn or anyone else with the Resistance. She was about to experiment with sending an outgoing message from a spoofed address when she heard the shower turn off. A minute later, Kylo exited the ‘fresher, his hair still wet, and naked except for a towel slung around his waist. Rey pretended to not watch as he walked over to the chest of drawers that had been brought in for him yesterday, selected a pair of briefs, and slipped them on under the towel. Rey was about to look away when he let the towel drop.

All Rey wanted to do was stare; she had been sneaking glimpses at his torso for the past day, but now he was standing a few feet away from her wearing nothing but a pair of briefs. As if she couldn’t help herself, her gaze swept from his muscular legs, over his tight and toned buttocks, and up over the broad back that she had been studying every chance that she’d gotten when she thought that she wouldn’t get caught. 

She was still staring when Kylo turned around to face her, wearing a smug grin on his face. Rey blushed and looked away. 

Kylo walked over to where Rey sat on the bed. “You can look, you know. If it were you in your underwear, I’d be looking. I can be honest about that.”

Blushing, Rey looked away. She was about to deny that she had been watching him, when she had the thought that perhaps this was his way of trying to tease her? He’d always shown a lack of respect for personal space and personal boundaries, so maybe this was just another one of his ploys to get under her skin? Maybe the best way to deal with this was to push back?

Having mentally re-grouped, Rey crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked him directly in the eye, but not before making a point of looking him up and down again. She stated, “Okay, I will admit it. You have a very nice body. Happy? Can we move past this now?”

“I, uh, I--  Yes,” Kylo stammered.

Rey smirked; Kylo clearly hadn’t expected her to answer the way that she did.

He walked over to his dresser and started pulling out items of clothing again. He turned around with a sheepish look on his face. “You really think that?”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Yes. But it doesn’t change anything. Can you just get dressed now?”

“Fine,” he muttered, stepping into a pair of pants and then slipping a tunic over his head. Fully dressed, he turned to her and asked, “Now what? We’re not supposed to meet up again with the General until lunch. Did you want to snoop around on the network some more.”

Rey hesitated. “You know, there’s something that I’ve been wanting to ask you since you’re first night here…”

“What is it?” 

“You’d mentioned that in return for getting me out of here. You wanted my help with something, but you still haven’t told me what that is. I’ve almost been afraid to ask.”

A look of relief passed over his face and he walked over to where Rey sat. “I need you to come back to Ahch-To with me.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t enter the temple with Luke when you were there, did you?”

“No, but I wasn’t there very long, thanks to you.”

“I need your help entering the temple there. You need two Force users to enter the temple and...activate an artifact that’s there.”

Rey frowned. “And why should I help you with that?”

“Because once the artifact is activated, it will help drain Snoke of his power. I assume that you’re okay with that.”

“You really are turning against him?”

“After everything that I’ve done to serve him, and the consequences of those actions, it’s the least that I can do for the people who are left,” he sighed.

Rey stood and threw her arms around him, hugging him in a genuine and tender embrace. “Of course, I’ll help you,” she murmured.

“Anything else?” he asked as he rubbed her back.

“Actually,” Rey began somewhat tentatively, “if it’s not too weird now, you had mentioned something about practicing dancing? 

Kylo shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“It’s just that I’ve never actually danced with anyone before. If we’re expected to dance tonight, I don’t want to make a fool of myself out there.”

“Okay, we can practice dancing, if you want.” Kylo stepped back and offered his hands to Rey with a smile. 

Hesitantly, she took his hands. He placed her left hand on his shoulder, and took her right hand in his. He placed his left hand at her back.

“Can you follow my lead?” he asked.

Rey frowned. “Shouldn’t we have music for this?”

“Oh yeah, right. I guess so.” Kylo dropped her hands and walked over to the entertainment panel on the wall. He punched in a few buttons, and soon, a mid-tempo instrumental song started playing.

Walking back to Rey and moving their hands back into position, Kylo explained, “This is a waltz. It’s the easiest dance to learn. When I move forward, move back with your foot that’s directly across from mine. So, I’m going to start by stepping forward with my left foot, which means that you step backward with your right foot. Next, I’m going to step forward with my right foot, so you step back with your left. Then we each bring our feet together. Finally, we repeat the sequence, but starting with the other foot and going in the other direction. Got it?”

“I think so.”

“Just follow my lead, and you’ll be fine.”

Rey nodded.

“Ready?”

She nodded again.

Kylo stepped forward. Rey was slow to react, and he bumped into her as she stumbled to step back. He brought his other foot forward, Rey recovered and brought her remaining foot back and then successfully managed to bring her feet together.

“Not bad. Now we’re going to do the same steps, but starting with the other foot, and you’ll move forward instead of back this time, got it?”

“Got it.” Rey stepped forward.

“Wait for my lead,” Kylo instructed, a slight amount of irritation creeping into his voice.

“Sorry.”

Kylo stepped back, pulling Rey with him. The whole sequence went slightly smoother this time. 

“Better,” Kylo offered. “Let’s walk through the steps one more time, and then we can try doing it in time with the music. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Rey bit her lip in concentration and looked up at Kylo, who also appeared to be concentrating. He nodded to indicate that he was starting the set of steps and then stepped forward with his left foot. Rey was more mentally prepared this time, and was able to step backwards in sync with her dance partner. She walked through the steps in her mind while she followed Kylo’s lead.

“That’s it!” Kylo exclaimed when they had successfully completed the box step. “Are you ready to try it with the music now?”

Rey smiled, starting to feel a little more confident. “Sure!”

She studied Kylo’s face as he concentrated on finding the beat of the music, then quietly counted off “1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3… 1, 2, 3…” before nodding to initiate the next set of steps.

With the music guiding them, they completed the box step much more gracefully this time. Without taking a break, Kylo immediately led them into a second set of box steps and then a third. Rey’s grin grew wider and wider as her confidence grew.

“Now you’re really getting it,” Kylo beamed. 

Rey beamed right back. This might be the first time that she had seen a genuine smile on Kylo’s face, with no trace of snark or condescension.

They danced around the room, repeating box step after box step until the song ended. 

“Another song?” Rey asked.

“If the lady so desires it,” Kylo playfully replied.

They stood in place waiting for the next song to start. When the music started, Kylo counted to three and then initiated the dance steps. 

They managed to dance through that song and start a third song when Rey’s holopad began buzzing wildly. Rey immediately extricated herself from Kylo and ran over to where the holopad sat on the night table. She opened the holopad and glanced at the screen.

“It’s Finn!” she announced excitedly.

“Lucky us,” Kylo muttered, as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

Rey opened the holopad and tapped in a code. A small, blue holographic image of the former stormtrooper was generated on top of the holopad.

“Rey!” The image exclaimed in excitement.

“Finn!”  Rey exclaimed back.

“I can’t believe that I was able to reach you! You’ve been all over the holonet, between King Prana proposing to the General  _ and _ you turning out to be some sort of lost princess.”

“I know, we’ve heard.”

“You’ve heard the news stories?” Finn frowned. “I almost got the feeling that you were being held semi-hostage there, especially when we didn’t hear from any of you.”

Rey realized her slip and looked up at Kylo, who was avoiding eye contact and still sulking against the wall.

“Yeah, um, we’ve found that we have a...friend here. He relayed the information to us.”

Kylo snorted at Rey’s explanation. 

“Are you in trouble? Can we do anything to help?” Finn’s concern was evident in his voice.

Rey shook her head. “I don’t think that King Prana would react too kindly to the Resistance trying to carry out an extraction. We’re working on a plan to escape on our own, hopefully unnoticed until we’re long gone.”

“You’re sure that you have this under control?”

“Well, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t panic yet.”

“I’ll take your word for it, even if I’m not happy about it. We can’t have your father marrying you off to some goon while you’re there.”

“That won’t happen. I promise you that I’m not marrying  _ anyone _ while I’m here.”

“I trust you.”

Rey looked up at Kylo, nervously. “Look, I should probably get going. This is an encrypted channel, but King Prana has this place under crazy security. It was good to hear from you.”

“It was good to hear from you, too,” Finn’s voice sounded noticeably disappointed. “Take care of yourself, Rey. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Finn.” Rey tapped a few keys on the holopad and closed the cover.

“Nice chat with the traitor?” Kylo asked sarcastically, glaring at Rey.

“It was nice to hear from him,” she replied, measuring her words. 

Fists balled at his side, with three long steps, Kylo crossed the room so that he was standing beside Rey as she sat on the bed.

“What?” Rey asked, “He’s my friend. Like you’re supposed to be now.”

“Right. Friends.” Kylo placed one knee on the bed next to Rey and placed his hands on her shoulders. “We’ve got that gala thing coming up in a few hours. I think we should practice a bit more before that.”

“Why are you acting like--”  Rey was unable to finish her question because Kylo interrupted her by crashing his lips to hers. 

Before Rey realized what was happening, he had her gently but firmly pinned down on the bed, one knee wedged between her legs and using his hand and forearm to brace himself. Rey wasn’t sure whether she was irritated with him or slightly turned on. 

He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. “Acting like what?”

“You really don’t make any sense sometimes,” Rey sighed.

“I make perfect sense,” he murmured, then lightly nibbled her earlobe. “You’re the one who’s confusing.”

“Of course I’m confused! One minute, you’re--” Rey was cut off again as Kylo initiated another kiss. This time, Rey parted her lips, allowing his tongue to mingle with hers. She couldn’t explain why--even to herself, but there was something about having the weight of this large man lightly pressing into her that she found quite arousing. Without thinking, she found herself rubbing his leg with her own as her hands roamed over his upper back and through his hair. Against her best intentions, she began to lose herself in the kiss.

Rey  _ knew _ that she should push him off of her. If their kissing the night before had felt oddly “real” for what it was supposed to be, this was on a whole other level of non-platonic kiss. Really, Rey could understand the need for them to appear comfortably affectionate with each other when they had an audience, but were they ever going to be in a situation where Kylo was on top of her as she writhed beneath him? 

Rey broke away briefly. “We should stop,” she panted.

“Do you really want me to stop this?” Kylo turned his attention to her neck, licking and sucking and nibbling the sensitive flesh there. 

She moaned at the sensation, tilting her head back to give him better access.

“That’s what I thought,” he smirked.

The pressure of his biting and sucking increased, causing little spikes of arousal to flare in Rey’s lower abdomen every time that his teeth made contact with her skin. Somehow, she found a way to force her mouth to form words. “What are you doing?”

Kylo paused for a second. “I want everyone at that gala to know that you’re with me.”

In the moment, his statement seemed perfectly reasonable. “Okay.” 

As he continued working the flesh of her neck, Rey realized that she was now breathing very heavily and that she was actually grinding her pelvis against Kylo. She really, really should stop this now. Why was she having such a hard time breaking away?

She pushed back on Kylo’s shoulders, but instead of pushing him off of her, he held her hands and rolled over so that she was now partially on top of him. For about two seconds, she considered climbing off of him and ending this. Instead, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his, continuing with...whatever this was. 

Kylo stretched out beneath her and tilted his head back, exposing his neck to her. Rey followed his cue and began to lick and nibble, just as he had done to her moments earlier. His hands found her waist, slipping under the hem of her tunic to touch her bare skin. Acting on instinct, she swung her leg around so that she was now straddling him. As she worked his neck, she began to bite a little harder and began to suck at the skin on his neck, trying to mimic Kylo’s previous actions. 

“Rey… Ohhhhhh…” he moaned, encouraging Rey to continue what she was doing. Kylo’s grip on her waist tightened, and he pulled her lower body downwards so that she was basically sitting on his crotch. Rey felt something hard beneath her, and even having grown up isolated in the desert, she wasn’t so clueless as to not realize what was going on with him. Should she really be so shocked? She was aware of the growing wetness between her own legs; was it really a surprise that her partner was aroused, as well? Still, she knew that she should stop this and stop it now, but instead, she allowed Kylo’s hands to guide her into grinding her pelvis into him. 

While he held one hand at her hip, the other starting wandering its way upwards underneath her tunic. Should she let him touch her breast this time? Probably not, but she with the way that she was feeling right now, she wanted his hands touching as much of her body as much as possible. As if he could sense her thoughts (and she knew that he couldn’t, given that they were without use of the Force right now), his hand slipped under her bralette and began to knead her breast. She gasped. Why did him touching her feel so good?

With her grinding rhythm now somewhat established, Kylo’s other hand moved back to the hem over tunic. He began to lift the hem. Wait, he was taking her tunic off now? They were definitely crossing a line. She should stop him; she really really should. But oh, then she wouldn’t be able to feel his body against her bare torso, and that was what she really wanted right now much more than wanting him to stop.

Instead, she blurted out a compromise. “You first.”  She pushed herself back and grabbed the hem of his tunic and started to pull it up.

“Okay,” he said with a little grin and a raised eyebrow. He pulled the tunic off and tossed it to the floor. “Your turn now.”

Nervously, Rey sat back and clutched the hem. She began to pull the tunic off, exposing her bare stomach…”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Someone was pounding at the door to their room. The comm buzzed. “Rey? Ben? Are you in there?” General Organa was at the door.

Rey immediately dropped the hem and looked at Kylo with a look of panic.

“Rey?” The pounding resumed.

Rey slid off of Kylo and ran over to the door, scanning her handprint along the way.

The door slid open. General Organa and Poe stood on the other side. The General peaked her head in. “We’ve been knocking for the past two minutes. Is everything okay?”

“Yup, everything is fine,” Rey replied and smoothed her hair down with her hand. She hoped that she didn’t look too disheveled.

“We came to get you for lunch,” the General stated.

“Oh, lunch. Um, okay,” She turned to Kylo. “Ben, did you want to go get lunch?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, sliding out of bed.

“Where’s your shirt?” General Organa directed her question at Kylo, frowning.

“Right here.” He picked it up off the floor and slipped it on over his head.

The General quietly shook her head to herself as she led the foursome out the door and towards the guest dining area.

 

***

 

The group discussed their plans for the afternoon while they ate lunch at one of the tables in the outdoor dining area. Kylo and Leia would spend more time working on Leia’s Force skills.  In his short time here, Poe had managed to secure an afternoon caf date with one of the King’s lovely young assistants. Rey would continue to research the security network for the palace in hope of finding a weakness on that side. She was only expected to have a few hours before palace staff would be taking her to have her hair and makeup done for the gala later that night. 

Rey couldn’t help but notice that General Organa seemed to be giving her strange looks all through lunch. Was the tension because the General had walked in on them when Kylo was still shirtless? She snuck a glance over at Kylo, who was nearly finished with his meal. She watched as he leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

“Um, Ben…” Poe started.

“What?” Kylo asked.

“Um, you’ve uh…” Poe gestured to his own neck. “You’ve, uh, got something there.”

The General jerked to attention and leaned forward to get a better look at her son, who had been sitting across from her. “You too? What the kriff have you two been doing?” she asked angrily.

Rey then spotted the purple mark that she’d left on Kylo’s neck earlier that morning. Uh-oh. Did that mean that she had one on her neck, too?

General Organa continued to address Kylo. “I tried to convince myself that there might be a good, logical reason for Rey to be sporting what appear to be THREE hickeys on her neck. Maybe it was some bizarre allergic reaction or something, I told myself. But no, now I see that you have one, no, not one, but TWO hickeys yourself!”

Poe began to laugh so hard that he spat out his drink.

The General turned and glared at him. “This isn’t funny.”

He looked up, tears forming in his eyes. “Oh come on, it’s at least a little funny. I know he’s your kid, but they’re both adults. Who cares if they bone?”

Her face burning with embarrassment, Rey muttered. “It’s not a big deal. We just fooled around a little.”

General Organa turned her attention back to Rey and Kylo. “I  _ never _ should have allowed you two to share a room.”

“Rey can handle herself. Give her some credit. She doesn’t need to be protected from me,” Kylo murmured quietly.

General Organa glared at her son with a look that could have pierced glass. She stood up and walked over to Rey and Kylo’s side of the table, grabbing Rey’s arm. “Are you finished with your lunch?”

Rey nodded.

The General pulled her up by the arm. “You are coming with me. Now.”

Rey looked helplessly at Kylo who then stood up.

“Look, she didn’t do anything wrong.”

General Organa’s voice softened and addressed Rey. “You’re not in trouble. But I need you to come with me. I want to make sure that you don’t get into trouble.” 

Rey nodded and allowed herself to be led away by the older woman. The General then looked back over her shoulder and sternly addressed her son. “Later, you and I are going to have a talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, everyone, for your amazing response to this fic! We'll get our first taste of the big gala in our next chapter...


	10. The Gala Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Rey and Kylo got a little carried away with their "practice" makeout session, leaving each of them with visible hickeys. General Leia Organa did not approve.

Kylo and General Organa were sitting in the same spot in the garden as they had on the previous day. Again, Kylo held a knotted blade of grass in his hand as the General concentrated on using the Force to untie it.

General Organa opened her eyes and groaned in frustration at the still-knotted grass blade.

“No, no, that last time was good. It wiggled for a second,” Kylo tried to reassure her.

“This is asinine,” the General snapped. “We need to come up with another plan.”

“I’m all ears, if you’ve got one,” he retorted, then added, “I could always marry Rey…”

“I can’t do this,” she buried her face in her hands.

“Yes,” Kylo changed his tone and tried to reassure her, tentatively placing a hand on his mother’s back. “You’re as strong with the Force as any of us.”

“I know  _ that _ . I mean that I can’t do  _ this _ right now.” She looked up and glared at him. “I can’t let you hurt Rey. That poor girl has been through far too much to--”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” he huffed. “Why do you always have to think the worst of me?”

“Oh, I don’t know, let me think about it...”

“It started  _ way _ before  _ that _ .” Kylo shot a menacing look to his mother. “First, you ship me off to Uncle Luke to wash your hands of me--all because of your own paranoia about our family, which you hadn’t even told me about. Then, when I disappeared, you couldn’t even bother to look for me?!?”

“I-- I--,” the General searched for words before softly speaking, “That was wrong. I’m sorry. We were sorry. I--  This was all my fault. If I’d never sent you to Luke, none of this,” she paused and gestured with her arm, “None of this would have happened.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “You never even looked for me. Do you know what they did to me while I waited? While I kept thinking that you were going to show up?” Tears began to form in Kylo’s eyes.

“I don’t know what they did to you. I can only imagine,” she wrapped her arms around her son, taking him into an embrace. “We didn’t even know most of the story until Luke came back.” Her tone became bitter. “I will never forgive him for running off like that and not telling us what happened.”

“You assumed the worst.”

Leia sighed, “Yes and no. We  _ did _ look for you. We didn’t want to believe that you could have just up and killed your classmates like that…  But when we couldn’t find you, we figured that you didn’t want to be found and yes, we assumed the worst. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Ben.”

Kylo began to sob within his mother’s embrace. “And then a few years later, I lived up to those expectations.”

“Why did you do it?” Leia whispered.

“Snoke ordered it. If I didn’t go through with it, he would have killed us both.” He pulled back. “Mother, I tried to avoid him, but then he saw me, and he called my name…  There were Stormtroopers all around us at that point…”

The older woman pulled her son back to her chest. “We’ll get through this,” she murmured. “We’ll get through this.”

 

***

Back in her room, Rey rubbed the sore spot on her upper arm as she looked at herself in the mirror. She barely recognized the person looking back, in more ways than one. After their abrupt finish to their lunch, General Organa had dragged her to the palace med bay, where she had one of the nurses give Rey a contraceptive injection that would prevent pregnancy for the next six months. Rey had been absolutely horrified, both with the General’s assumption as to Rey’s involvement with her son and with her own lack of restraint around said son that potentially made the injection necessary. 

Staring at her reflection, Rey wondered what was wrong with her. Why did she have so much trouble controlling herself around Kylo? If it wasn’t for the Force suppression bracelets that they both wore, she’d blame it on him pulling some sort of Force-mind trick on her (like she had done to that stormtrooper), but really, she didn’t have that as an excuse. The only explanation was that Rey was ridiculously, illogically attracted to Kylo. She tried to hold back a smile as she thought of his thick hair, his full lips, and those piercing eyes that seemed like they could see right through to her soul. Rey wasn’t exactly a short girl, so she wasn’t used to men towering over her, but Kylo’s height and those broad shoulders seemed to wake something primal in her. She could take care of herself; she always had taken care of herself, but something about Kylo made her  _ want _ him to wrap his arms around her and make her feel protected.

Rey continued to study the woman in the mirror. She now wore her long beaded gown, and the palace stylists had primped her to within an inch of her life. Instead of her usual three-bun hairdo, she wore her hair down with a deep side part. The crown of her hair had been set into place, and stylist had set loose waves that hung just below her shoulders. Her lips were now stained a deep red, and dark eyeliner and shadow had been smudged around her eyes.

The high neckline of her dress had covered the most noticeable of the hickeys that Kylo had given her, and the makeup artist had applied bacta to the two that remained visible. The woman had shook her head and muttered, “You couldn’t hold off for a few days so as not to mar your skin?” With irritation, Rey had simply shrugged her shoulders in response. She wondered what Kylo would think about his handiwork on her neck having been erased before anyone else had seen it...well, anyone else except his mother and Poe.

She had yet to put her shoes on yet. Against her protests, the stylists had insisted on her wearing high heeled shoes. The shoes killed her feet and made it difficult to walk. Rey reminded herself that she had dealt with far more serious discomfort in the past than painful shoes. She could make it through this.

The door buzzed and slid open. Kylo entered the room and stopped a few feet in front of Rey. 

“Rey...wow,” he murmured. He moved to stand behind her, staring at both of their reflections in the mirror.

She allowed herself to lean back against his chest as he rubbed her shoulders. “Not bad for a scavenger from Jakku?” 

“That would be an understatement. You look...beautiful.” He lightly kissed her neck, then added with a grin, “Hey, what happened to the marks that I gave you this morning?”

Rey turned around to face him. As much as she had been trying to convince herself that nothing between her and Kylo was real, she was having a harder and harder time denying that he had become more affectionate with her over the past two days, and she’d found that she enjoyed his affection.

“Bacta. The makeup lady wanted to get rid of them.” Testing the waters, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek then stepped back to get a better look at him. “You clean up rather nicely yourself,” she smiled. “Did you pick this out yourself? I assume not, since it isn’t all black?” 

Kylo looked unbelievably handsome. He wore a classic tuxedo over a white shirt; this was the first time that she had seen him wearing any piece of white clothing. Even the briefs that he had been parading around in earlier had been black. Someone had trimmed his hair that afternoon, and it had been combed to frame off of his face.

He shrugged. “I didn’t really have any other choice if I wanted to blend in.”

She placed her hands on his cheeks and was about to give him another quick kiss when he surprised her by leaning down attacking her lips with his own. For a moment, Rey thought that he was going to devour her, and she was more or less happy to allow him to do so, as their tongues met and mingled.

As he broke the kiss and pulled away, Rey caught his gaze. “Was that still practice?” she asked timidly.

“Did that feel like practice?” he replied. She stared into his eyes, wondering what he meant by that and what actually  _ was _ going on between them.

Changing the subject, he let go of her arms and broke eye contact. “What did my mother want with you earlier?”

“She was just being protective.” Rey shook her head, trying to hold back a slight smile. She reasoned that there was nothing to be gained by bringing up the contraceptive injection at the moment.

“I’ll protect you.” He pulled her into an embrace again and then quickly added. “Not that you can’t take care of yourself.”

Rey sighed contentedly. She didn’t know what would happen once they got away from the palace, but she liked this version of Kylo.  “We should probably get going,” she murmured without making any real effort to break away from him. 

“Probably,” he responded, also making no effort to move.

The door buzzed, breaking them out of the moment.

Kylo dropped his arms and scanned his handprint to open the door. General Organa and Poe waited for them on the other side.

“We wanted to stop by in case you hadn’t left yet,” the General offered.

“We were just leaving,” Rey replied, picking up her shoes and slipping one on.

The General frowned then licked her thumb and rubbed it over the side of her son’s lips. She turned to Rey and said flatly, “You might want to fix your lipstick before we head out.”

 

***

The gala began with a cocktail hour. Feeling completely out of her element at a fancy event like this, Rey nervously clung to Kylo’s side. Although the couple was trying their best to appear inconspicuous by hanging back at the wall of the ballroom, enough of the guests apparently recognized Ben Solo from his adolescence that Rey and Kylo had a steady stream of people walking up to them and greeting him. Given his lack of social skills most of the time, Rey was impressed with how naturally he appeared to be interacting with the King’s various guests. 

A short, balding middle aged man approached the couple holding three flutes of sparkling wine. He handed one glass each to Rey and Kylo and took a sip from his own glass. 

“You must be Rey. I have heard so much about you,” the man took Rey’s free hand, held it to his lips and kissed it.

Rey nearly snatched her hand back, but then thought better of it. “I don’t think we’ve met…”

“My name is Barad Marnel, Governor of Birren.” He looked to Ben. “You know, Ben here could have been Governor of Birren, had his mother not turned down the title herself.”

“Nice to meet you,” she replied, trying to sound as neutral as possible. She held back a smirk at the thought of Kylo being governor of anything.

The Governor continued, “You are very beautiful. I expect that you’ll be getting a lot of attention tonight.”

Rey blushed and stared at the ground, gripping Kylo’s hand tightly.

“She’s with me,” Kylo stated firmly.

Governor Marnel sneered. “You might think so, but really, she’s not with anyone until King Prana makes it official. Besides, it can’t be too serious if she’s still, you know…”

“We’ll see about that.” With his hand around her lower back, Kylo pulled Rey to him and pressed his lips to hers. Rey grasped the back of his head, kissing him back.

The Governor shook his head, chuckled, and walked away.

“How long do we have to stay here?” Rey pleaded quietly to Kylo.

“Not long, I hope.”

Rey searched the room, looking for either Poe or General Organa in hopes that having additional bodies nearby might ward off attention from potential suitors. Poe was at the opposite end of the room, flanked by three young women. General Organa was standing beside King Prana at the head of the ballroom, looking about as uncomfortable as Rey felt.

“We should go rescue your mother.” Rey grabbed Kylo’s hand and was about to start walking towards the General when they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Rey! It’s good to see you!” Regina, Rey’s sister, had appeared and was heading towards the couple. However, instead of stopping in front of Rey, she walked directly to Kylo. “Ben, it’s  _ very _ good to see you. It’s been years; how have you been?” Ignoring that he had a female companion at his side, Regina made a point of looking Kylo over from head to foot. “You’ve still got that hair, I see.”

“Good evening, Regina,” Kylo nodded towards her. “It’s nice to you see you, too.”

Rey cast a glance over at her sister, who was dressed in a figure-hugging red dress with a deep v-neckline that nearly reached her navel. Seeing her sister’s cleavage suddenly made Rey feel somewhat self-conscious about the modest size of her own bustline. 

Regina stepped back, placing her hands on her hips. “Rey, why didn’t you tell me that you were dating Ben Solo? When we had lunch the other day, I would have thought that you would have mentioned it if you had a  _ boyfriend _ .”

Rey looked up at Kylo, who then placed his arm around her shoulders. “We haven’t been dating all that long, so we hadn’t really told anyone yet.”

Kylo added, “I didn’t exactly want to subject our relationship status to the scrutiny of my mother until we had to.”

Regina laughed. “So you’re still a mama’s boy? You clearly haven’t changed much.”

Kylo glared at her. “And you’re still unable to keep your nose out of other people’s business, so you clearly haven’t changed much, either.”

“Speaking of which…” Regina waved over a service droid, “Can we please get a round of shots for everyone? Corellian whiskey, please.”

Rey gestured to her nearly-full glass of sparkling wine. “I’m don’t need one. I’ve still got a drink.”

“Oh, come on sweetie, these aren’t for sipping like that glass of grape juice.” Regina placed her hand on Kylo’s arm, much to Rey’s annoyance. “These are to help you have fun. And you don’t appear to be having very much fun here yet.”

“Reg...” Kylo started.

Regina continued. “Did Ben tell you how close we used to be? He used to steal bottles of his dad’s Corellian whiskey, and we’d head down to the passages under the palace to get drunk.” She looked directly at Rey. “Of course, that’s not all we’d do.”

“That’s in the past,” Kylo muttered.

The service droid reappeared with the requested tray of whiskey shots. Regina took the three shots and handed two to Rey and Kylo, keeping one for herself.

“Rey, you don’t have to drink that if you don’t want to,” Kylo told Rey.

Rey looked directly at Regina. “I want to try one. I mean, if you and Regina used to do these as teenagers…”

“Okay, if you really want to try it…”

“I do.”

Regina smirked at Rey and Kylo. She held up her shot. “To relationships new and old.” She tilted her head back and drank the shot in one gulp.

Copying Regina, Rey tilted her head back and slammed her shot. The strong alcohol taste burned her throat and nose, but she hid her discomfort, smiled at Regina and said, “See? No problem.”

Following the women, Kylo downed his shot as well. The service droid offered his tray, and the trio set their empty glasses down on the tray.

“Shall we go find our seats for dinner?” Regina motioned to the large, round dining tables that were clustered at the far end of the banquet hall. She leaned close to Kylo and added, “When I heard you were here, I made sure that we’d be seated together.” 

Grabbing Kylo’s arm, Regina began to pull him towards the tables. He quickly grabbed Rey’s hand, and dragged her behind him as she tottered after them on her high heels. Regina quickly found the table where her and Kylo’s placecards were located and sat down.

“Where am I sitting?” Rey frowned.

Regina shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. It looks like they sat you at a different table.”

Kylo sighed and rolled his eyes. “Try to be a little more obvious, Regina.” He scanned the tables until he found Rey’s placecard, several tables over. Quickly, he swapped her placecard with the one that had been placed next to his. He pulled Rey’s chair out for her. “That was an easy fix.”

As soon as they sat down, Rey leaned over and whispered in Kylo’s ear, “Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Kylo turned his face towards hers. “You’re welcome.”

Rey leaned towards him, and they shared a quick, tender kiss on the mouth. She noticed that she was beginning to feel slightly lightheaded and her face felt a pleasant light tingling sensation after having drank half a glass of sparkling wine and a shot of whiskey in quick succession.

“Can we leave yet?” she whispered.

“You just can’t wait to get me back to the room tonight, can you?” he smirked.

Feeling slightly emboldened by the alcohol that she had already consumed that night, Rey answered, “Now, whatever would we do back there?”

“Sleep. We’d go straight to bed and sleep,” he teased, grabbing her knee under the table.

“Well, if that’s what you want…”

“Hey guys!”

Rey looked up to see a grinning Poe standing with a pretty redhead. 

“It looks like we’ll be sitting with you tonight,” Poe continued. “Rey, Ben, this is Kaida. Kaida, this is Rey and Ben.”

Poe took his assigned seat next to Regina. Kaida quickly surveyed the other tables and swapped out the placecard for the seat next to Poe’s with her own. “No one will know,” she grinned.

“Hey, Kai,” Regina said flatly.

“Hey, Reg,” she replied.

Kaida smiled at Rey and leaned across the table, extending her hand. “So, I guess we’re sisters! Nice to finally meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Rey took her hand and returned the smile.

The group chatted idly for a few more minutes while waiting for the rest of the seat at the table to fill up. Eventually, they were joined by three young nobles from planets in neighboring systems. Uncomfortable with the way that the newest guests kept looking at her, Rey squeezed Kylo’s hand under the table.

Finally, a service droid stopped by the table and served the first course of that night’s dinner--a plate of leafy greens topped with some sort of crumbled cheese and chopped nuts dressed in some sort of light sauce. Hesitantly, Rey watched Kylo to see how he planned to eat this dish and was relieved to watch as he simply speared the leaves on his plate with a fork and brought it to his mouth. As they ate, Regina waved over another service droid and had several bottles of wine brought to the table and took it upon herself to fill everyone’s glasses. 

As Rey took a sip of her wine, Kylo jerked strangely next to her. She lowered her glass, leaned over and whispered, “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” he whispered back, placing his hand on her thigh under the table.“ Just looking forward to getting out of here.”

The service droid brought the next course--some sort of small fowl served with a red wine sauce and various roasted tubers. Rey felt as if all eyes at the table were on her as she followed Kylo’s lead, carefully dissecting the poultry by separating the meat from the bone with her knife and fork.

“A round of shots for the table!” Regina caught the attention of yet another service droid and waved it over to the table.

“Regina, I don’t think that’s necessary,” Kylo said quietly.

She responded by making a face. “A round of Corellian whiskey shots for everyone, please,” she asked the droid.

Kylo leaned over and whispered in Rey’s ear. “You don’t need to do the shot, if you don’t want.”

She threw him a dirty look. “It’s fine,” she whispered.

“I just know that you’re not really used to drinking...”

Rey snorted. “I hung around with the pilots on the Resistance base. I think I have some idea of how much alcohol I can handle.”

“Okay,” he placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”

Rey’s expression softened slightly. “I know. Thank you.”

The service droid returned and distributed whiskey shots to everyone at the table.

“Bottoms up,” Regina announced with a smile, raising her shot glass before downing the contents.

Rey and Kylo exchanged glances then gulped down their own shots. Rey noticed that Kylo jerked again as he set down his shot glass. She tried to catch his attention only to find Regina staring at her with a grin that could only be described as “wicked”.

Dessert was served next; it turned out to be some sort of custard served in individual ramekins. The service droid set each dish aflame as they were served. Rey blew out her flames then looked to Kylo for guidance. 

The dessert had a thin shell that had formed at the top from the heat of the flames. Kylo took a small spoon and cracked the shell, before scooping up a bit of both the shell and the creamy substance underneath. 

Rey followed Kylo’s lead and stifled a moan at the taste. “Oh my stars, this is so good.”

Kylo grinned and ate another spoonful. “It is good, isn’t it?”

Feeling a little lightheaded from the alcohol, Rey quietly sighed. “Why can’t this be under different circumstances?”

“What?” 

“All of this,” she leaned her head on his shoulder.

He placed his arm around her and whispered to her. “No matter what happens here, I’m not leaving you. And besides, you promised to go back to Ahch-To with me.”

“I did. And I will,” she murmured.

The empty dessert plates were soon cleared, and music began to play. Slowly couples began to leave their tables and began to dance. Rey looked around nervously, wondering how obviously inexperienced she’d appear once she and Kylo made their way to the dance floor.

Poe and Kaida were the first couple from the table to make the move to the dance floor. Next, one of the young noblemen asked Regina to dance. 

On that cue, Kylo stood up and offered his hand to Rey. With a reassuring look, he asked, “Shall we dance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, the gala is split into two chapters. And yes--as some of you guessed, "Regina" is a nod to Regina George from Mean Girls. But don't worry--not all of Rey's sisters are like Regina. ;)


	11. Shall we dance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter, the gala finally started! But before that we had a little heart to heart talk (and another Force lesson) between Leia and Kylo. At the gala itself, Regina was more "frenemie" than sister to Rey as she continually gave Kylo unwanted attention. The chapter ended with Kylo leading Rey onto the dance floor.

Kylo led Rey out onto the dance floor. He leaned down and murmured to her, “The song that they’re playing...this is a waltz, which is what we practiced earlier. Think you’ll be okay?”

“I think so,” Rey nodded.

“1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3…,” Kylo quietly counted, taking Rey’s hands in his and bouncing them to the rhythm of the song to help her find the beat. “Got it?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Kylo adjusted his hands, assuming the form that they had used earlier--placing one hand on her back and taking her other hand in his own. He stepped forward, pressing Rey back lightly, and they were off on their first set of box steps. 

Rey counted along with the music in her head, taking about half the song to really feel comfortable. Occasionally, she’d look up at Kylo, seeking his approval, which he’d show by smiling at her. A few minutes later, the song ended, and the music transitioned to something much slower in tempo. 

“This isn’t a waltz, is it?” Rey asked.

“No,” Kylo said, looking around the dance floor at the other couples. “This is just a slow dance.”

She started to lead him off of the dance floor, “I don’t know the steps for this…”

Kylo smiled and pulled her back. “There are no actual steps. We just sort of hold each other and move in time to the music.”

Rey glanced around, observing the other couples. Kylo appeared to be correct. 

“Come here,” he said softly, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her to him.

Mimicking what she’d seen the other women on the dance floor do, Rey placed her hands around the back of Kylo’s neck. They began to sway and move in circles in time to the music. As Rey relaxed, she rested her head on Kylo’s chest. 

After a couple of minutes, Rey stole a glance upward to see Kylo staring down at her. “This is nice,” she murmured. 

“It is nice,” he agreed softly.

“When you showed up, and we got stuck together...I wasn’t expecting any of this to be ‘nice’. I mainly had hopes that we wouldn’t constantly be at each other’s throats.”

“Well, if we were constantly at each other’s throats, that would make our upcoming trip to Ahch-To a little awkward, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Rey placed her head back down against Kylo’s chest. In everything that had happened over the past day or so, she’d practically forgotten that she’d agreed to accompany Kylo to Ahch-To. Alone. She was starting to feel like she could barely trust herself with him simply being alone in the same room with Kylo. What would happen if she was alone on an entire planet with him for an extended period of time? She couldn’t stop herself from feeling attracted to him; she realized that now. She could even begrudgingly admit that she was rather enjoying their burgeoning physical relationship, whatever that was supposed to be. However, given his past and uncertain future, she was wary of developing strong feelings for him. Unfortunately, even that was starting to feel like it would be inevitable. The thought terrified her.

“Okay, sis! Time for another shot!” Rey felt someone tap her on the shoulder, breaking up her dance with Kylo. She wheeled around to find a smiling Regina holding several shots.

Hesitantly, Rey took the shot from Regina, looking to Kylo, who also took his own shot. 

“I’ll be back soon,” Regina chided Kylo. “You still owe me a dance.” She turned and headed off to another part of the ballroom, turning her head to cast a smile to Kylo once as she walked away.

“What was that about?” Rey asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Kylo sighed. He downed his shot and then took Rey’s shot from her. “I assume that you don’t need another one of these yet?”

“No, what should we do with--” She stopped short, as Kylo had taken the shot glass to his lips and downed Rey’s shot, as well.

“I guess that answers that,” Rey joked.

Kylo shrugged. “Anything to make this event less painful, right?”

They began to exit the dance floor and head back towards their seats. “Is it really that bad?” Rey asked. “I mean, I know that you’re being forced to spend an evening with a scavenger, and all…”

Kylo placed his arm around the back of Rey’s waist and pulled her to him. “Trust me, spending the evening with you, especially when you’re all dressed up like that, is the least objectionable part of all of this.”

She reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair from his face. “Oh, come on. Getting dressed up was a  _ little _ fun.”

Kylo gestured down towards the tuxedo he was wearing. “I feel like a banquet waiter in this.”

“I disagree. I think you look very handsome.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Rey felt the slightest bit of blush appearing on her cheeks. “I can admit that now.”

His hand still at her waist, Kylo guided her back to their seats at the banquet table. “Oh? Is there anything else that you’d like to admit?”

Feeling either a little emboldened, or possibly a little buzzed from the alcohol that she’d been ingesting, she placed her hand on his knee. “Not right now. Maybe later?”

“I like the sound of that,” he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“Lady Rey!” a male voice boomed

Rey broke the kiss, looking up to see Barad Marnel, the Governor of Birren who had approached her earlier in the evening. He offered her his hand and asked, “Would you be willing to grant me the pleasure of a dance with you?”

Although she wasn’t inclined to dance with this man under any circumstances, Rey immediately noticed that the music had changed again, this time playing a much faster, livelier song. Hopefully, this would give her a graceful way to decline. “Um, I’d be honored, but I’m not much of a dancer, and I don’t know this particular dance at all.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” the Governor laughed. “Just follow my lead.”

Frozen with fear and shock, Rey looked to Kylo. He gave her an amused look and shrugged. “It’s just one dance. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

Rey shot him a quick glare, then took the Governor’s hand and allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor.

 

***

 

From his seat, Kylo watched with amusement as Barad Marnel tried to whirl Rey around the dance floor. As far as being led by the Governor, Rey was having none of it. With Kylo, she had actually been quite graceful for a novice dancer, whereas with Marnel, she was visibly off-rhythm and even stepped on his feet a few times. Kylo briefly wondered if she was dancing badly on purpose, so as to dissuade any potential interest that the Governor might hold in her. It was either that or the alcohol. Since Kylo himself was feeling a bit buzzed, he could only imagine how Rey was starting to feel, given that he probably weighed nearly twice as much as she did.

As he watched the dancing crowd, another awkward-looking couple caught his eye. King Prana had dragged General Organa out onto the dance floor. They looked like they were playing a tug-of-war more than sharing a dance; the General was clearly trying to keep the King at arm’s length as much as possible, whereas the King kept trying to pull the General in closer to his body. Kylo watched in horror as the King then reached down and grabbed the General on the ass. He stood up and began to march over towards the couple at their corner of the dance floor.

“Ben!” 

Kylo jumped as someone grabbed his arm, nearly yanking it out of its socket. He turned to see Regina holding his arm in one hand and two shots of whiskey in her other hand. Of course, it was Regina. He grabbed one of the shots out of her hand, downed it, and handed the empty glass back to her. 

“Ben, would you--”

“Not now, Regina,” he grumbled, and then continued on to where his mother was dancing with King Prana.

When he reached the dancing couple (and Kylo would have used the term “dancing” loosely), he tapped the King on the shoulder and asked, “May I cut in?”

A fleeting look of relief passed over his mother before she re-adopted the stoic look that her face had previously held. 

The King released his hold on the General. “Be my guest,” he offered.

Kylo took his mother’s hands and positioned them at shoulder height. “How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’ve been better,” she smiled, shaking her head.

Kylo began to count to get the beat of the music. He nodded, cueing the start of the dance. They whirled around the dance floor for a minute before either of them spoke again. 

“I see that as much as you hated them at the time, those Cotillion classes have paid off for you,” Leia remarked as Kylo effortlessly spun then dipped her.

“I guess so, if this counts as paying off. Has he been keeping his hands off of you?”

“More or less. He--” Leia stopped and frowned. Without breaking the dancing rhythm, she stood on her tiptoes and sniffed her son’s breath. “You smell like a distillery. How much have you had to drink tonight?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t keep track. A couple of glasses at dinner? And then however many shots Regina keeps shoving at us?”

“You don’t know? Are you drunk?”

Kylo spun his mother again. “A little, I guess.”

“Ben, please promise me that you won’t do anything stupid to or with Rey?”

“It’s fine,” his voice slurred slightly. “She’s a bit drunk, too.”

“Ben…” she sighed. “I’m so worried that you’re making a mistake…”

“You’re worried that I’m going to hurt her,” he said bluntly.

Leia shook her head. “I’m worried that you’re going to hurt each other. If you start something here, what happens when we all leave? I don’t want either of you to end up with a broken heart.”

Kylo dipped his mother. “Well, she’s coming with me, so we’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.”

“What?” Leia stopped dancing. “No.”

The music stopped, and Kylo and Leia began to leave the dance floor. Kylo shrugged. “I need her help with something. She’s agreed to come back to Ahch-To with me.”

“And what do you need her help with?”

“There’s a temple there that holds an artifact that can stop Snoke. It takes two Force-sensitive people to open the temple and activate the artifact.”

Leia frowned. “Why can’t you use Luke for that? Or me?”

“Because…” Kylo stopped himself before nearly saying “because it would be a lot more fun with Rey”. He thought of a better answer. “Because I know that my uncle wouldn’t be willing to do it, and I know that you’re busy with the Resistance.”

“I’m sure that’s the reason,” the General snorted. “And I’m sure that it has nothing to do with you apparently wanting to get Rey alone with you on a deserted planet. She’s vulnerable, and I know that you know that.”

“I’m not going to hurt her. I promise. Besides, she’s perfectly capable of handling herself--you of all people should know that.” They had reached an empty banquet table at the edge of the dance floor. Kylo pulled out a chair for his mother.

“Hey…!”  A breathless Rey approached the table. She turned to Leia and smiled. “General, you are quite a skilled dancer!”

“Thank you,” the General nodded. “Rey, how are you doing?”

“I survived the dance with Barad Marnel, if that’s what you’re asking.” She walked over to Kylo and grabbed his hand. “And I am hoping to not have to do anything like that again tonight. Apparently, King Prana told him that I’m Force-sensitive and that’s a partial source of his interest.” She shuddered. “Who knew that Force sensitivity fulfilled a kink to some people?”

Kylo grabbed Rey around the waist and pulled her into his chest, causing her to squeal. He growled semi-jokingly, “I’m not letting any other man get his hands on you for the rest of the night.”

“That’s fine by me,” Rey replied. She took Kylo’s cheeks in hand, pulled his face down to hers, and kissed him full on the mouth.

They kissed for a minute, oblivious to the room full of people around them and the General sitting feet away. Kylo eventually broke the kiss and gently took Rey’s hand. “Care for another dance?”

“I’d like that,” Rey smiled, allowing him to lead her back to the dance floor. She turned and waved at the seated General.

The music had returned to playing another slow dance, and Rey allowed herself to be pulled into Kylo’s chest as they swayed to the music. 

“I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit of an ass,” he murmured, rubbing her back with one hand.

“Apology accepted.”

“Rey, I like you. I like you a lot, and I know that you have no reason to like me. I still can’t understand why you aren’t rejecting me again.”

She sighed. “I feel like I shouldn’t, but I like you, too.” Rey looked up at him as they continued to dance. “Do you realize that other than Finn, you are the first person in my life to ever come back for me?”

He placed his hand at the back of her head, pressing it back to his chest. “I know. And I am so sorry about that in so many ways.”

They danced in silence for a few minutes. 

Kylo broke the silence. “Can we acknowledge that we aren’t play-acting any more, or whatever we were doing?” When Rey didn’t respond immediately, he added, “I’m not wrong about that, am I?”   


Still clutched to his chest, Rey unsuccessfully tried to shake her head. “I keep telling myself that it doesn’t mean anything, but I like being held by you. I like kissing you.”

They danced quietly for a few more minutes before Kylo spoke again. “I don’t know how you’d feel about this, but I think that we should have sex.”

“What?” Rey stopped moving.

Kylo nudged her to begin dancing again. “I think it makes sense, don’t you?”

Shocked, Rey wasn’t sure how to answer. “I don’t know…”

“I mean, we’ve been inside each other’s minds. Aren’t you at all curious to experience what it would be like to be inside of each other physically?”

What was going on with him? Kylo had never been so...direct before. Still, she’d be lying if she hadn’t fantasized about doing more than kissing him. “I guess so…”

“You guess so?  Rey, I  _ really _ like kissing you. I want to do more than kiss you. Can we do more than kiss tonight?”

A realization hit her. “You’re drunk aren’t you?”

“A little. Does it matter?” He leaned down and kissed her head.

“Would you be saying those things if you weren’t drunk?”

“Probably not. But I’d still be thinking them.”

“Fair enough.”

“You can’t tell me that you’re not a little drunk yourself.”

“Maybe a little, but I’ve had a lot less to drink than you.”

They went back to dancing in silence again until the song ended. As they shuffled off the dance floor, Kylo spoke. “You still haven’t answered me.”

“I’m still thinking.” She looked up at him. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Rey noticed Poe rapidly approaching them. 

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” Rey shrugged.

Poe offered his hand. “We’ll be less conspicuous if we’re dancing. Can I trouble you for a dance?” he motioned towards the dance floor.

Rey looked to Kylo, who simply rolled his eyes.

“Okay,” she shrugged, taking Poe’s hand and allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor. 

Once they were out of earshot, Poe said, “You two look like you’re having an intense evening.”

She sighed, “That’s an understatement.”

Poe looked at her thoughtfully and he positioned Rey’s hands to begin the next dance. Rey recognized the music as a waltz--the type of dance that she had done with Kylo earlier. “You like him, don’t you? As in, really like him, not fake-relationship-like-him?”

“I do. I wish that I didn’t, but I do.”

Poe grinned. “I don’t really know him, but he seems like he can be a bit of an asshole.”

Rey laughed in response.

“But...I do think he genuinely cares about you. Guys can tell these things about other guys,” he continued with sincerity.

“Thank you. I want to believe him.”

“Have you told Finn yet?”

“No. I know that he’s not going to like this. I haven’t figured out the best way to tell him yet.”

“You’ll figure it out a diplomatic way to handle it. I have confidence in you.”

Poe wasn’t quite as strong of a lead as Kylo, and Rey found herself having to concentrate more to remember the dance steps without stumbling over her or Poe’s feet.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Rey asked.

“Kaida has agreed to help us escape.”

“She has? What is she going to do?”

“She says that she can help disable the GPS trackers. So, as long as we can sneak outside of the palace, we should be fine. I don’t think you guys will even need to use the Force to get us out of here.”

A huge grin spread across Rey’s face. “That’s fantastic! When do we leave?”

“There’s one condition,” Poe added. “She wants to come with us when we leave. There’s room on the Falcon--I didn’t think that would be a problem.”

“No, of course not! I think that we should help get anyone out of here who wants to go.”

“Good. Kaida will be  _ very _ happy to hear that.”

“So, when do we leave?”

“We were going to try to gather everyone after the gala tonight, but frankly, neither you nor Ben appear to be in any shape to be planning anything right now. I’ll talk to Kaida and try to set something up for tomorrow morning...after you and Ben have had a chance to sleep things off a bit, of course.”

“I’m not  _ that _ drunk.”

“Maybe  _ you’re _ not. But  _ he _ is.” Poe nodded his head towards the entrance to the banquet room.

Rey followed his gesture to see Ben being led out the door by Regina. “What the kriff?!?”

Poe laughed. “Go ahead and retrieve him, if you need to.”

Rey barely heard him, as she’d already let go of his hands and was storming her way out of the banquet hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Ducks* Don't hate me! Just keep in mind that Kylo is drunk, jealous, and perhaps not exercising the best judgment at the moment. And an angry Rey is charging after him, and she knows what Regina is up to, even if Kylo is somewhat in denial. You might have hated the cliffhanger ending of this chapter, but I promise that I'll be making up for it in the next two chapters. ;)


	12. Hey Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, we had lots of dancing: Rey and Kylo, Kylo and his mother, and ending with Rey and Poe, as Poe pulled Rey away to discuss a possible escape plan. Kylo did not care to see Rey dancing with Poe and allowed himself to be dragged off by Regina. As we left things, Rey was following after Kylo and Regina to see what they were up to.

Trying to remain inconspicuous, Rey followed Regina and Kylo as they left the gala hall. They passed through several hallways and slipped behind a closed door. What the kriff was he doing?  Rey’s fists balled at her side in anger. After that whole song and dance about how Kylo felt about her, he was slipping away with her kriffing sister??? 

This was the last straw; this charade was over. If he couldn’t even keep up the act of pretending to be her boyfriend for an evening, there was no way that she was ever letting his lips or anything else touch her again. Quietly opening the door, Rey slipped out of her heels and held them in her hand and shadowed Regina and Kylo as they descended down a staircase into a dimly lit passageway. 

Surveying her surroundings, as she slowly made her way after Regina and Kylo, Rey noted a series of small metal balls with blinking lights anchored sporadically at the place where the passage wall met the ceiling. If Rey hadn’t known better, she would have thought that the hall was lined with small thermal detonators; however, with what she had learned of King Prana, they were likely some sort of security measure, such as cameras or listening devices. She sighed to herself--great, so now King Prana was likely going to have evidence of whatever Kylo was getting up to with Regina.

Kylo and Regina stopped under a torch mounted to the wall, causing Rey to duck behind the nearest corner of the passageway. Rey watched as Regina pulled a thin, white cylindrical object out of the small clutch that she was carrying. She placed the object in her mouth and lit one end with using the torch. Taking a long drag, she handed the object to Kylo without exhaling. Kylo, in turn, took his own drag and handed the cylinder back to Regina.

“Hey!” Rey angrily shouted as she stormed up to Kylo and Regina.

“Rey!” Kylo coughed, white smoke streaming out of his mouth. He grabbed the white object back from Regina and offered it to Rey. “Want a hit?”

She wrinkled her nose as she took the object, examining it. “What is it? It smells funny.”

“It’s a joint,” Kylo explained as Regina burst out laughing.

Frowning, Rey tried to hand the joint back to Kylo, but Regina snatched the joint from her fingers.    


“Do you mean, like, weed? You’re already really drunk--why do you need to smoke weed, too?” Rey had heard some of her other Resistance members talking about joints and weed, usually in joking terms. It seemed like it was sort of a taboo thing to openly acknowledge, but a lot of people around the base seemed to smoke it when they could get a chance. But why was Kylo down here smoking it with Regina? She tried to calm herself; she’d thought that Regina was dragging Kylo down here to make a move on him, and that Kylo was allowing it but maybe that wasn’t the case. She wanted desperately to believe that, at lease on Kylo’s end.

“Yes, Rey, it’s weed,” Regina replied flatly with clear condescension in her voice.

Turning to Kylo, Rey asked. “Why are you down here smoking weed? And why did you leave me?”

“You were busy with  _ the pilot _ , remember?” 

“Busy? We were discussing--” Rey caught herself. She didn’t want to mention the word “escape” in front of Regina. “We were just discussing making plans for tomorrow.” She shot Kylo a look.

“You were dancing with him.”

“Because we were at a dance!” Rey threw her arms down in exasperation. “Is that why you’re down here? Because I was dancing with Poe?!?” She couldn’t believe this--she knew that Kylo had a jealous streak, but was he really so insecure that he headed down here with Regina simply because Rey had shared a dance with Poe?

Regina exhaled the smoke that she’d been holding in her mouth. “He’s down here because I invited him.” She smiled at Kylo and brushed his arm with her hand. “I thought that it might be fun to relive some of our old times together.”

Rey felt her anger level spike. Was Regina insinuating what she thought she was? “And what the kriff do you mean by that?” She stepped forward to stand directly in front of her sister.

Regina nonchalantly held the joint aloft. “Oh come on. You grew up on Jakku. You’re not that naive.”

“He’s  _ my _ boyfriend,” Rey stated firmly, gritting her teeth.

“Is he really?” Regina waved the joint around and leaned forward so that her face was inches in front of Rey’s. “I mean, you’re like a couple of school kids fumbling around in daddy’s speeder. How long do you think that’s going to hold Ben’s interest?”

“Regina…” Kylo started before Regina cut him off with a glare.

Regina continued angrily. “I’ve wondered if you’re actually even in a real relationship. You certainly didn’t mention anything about a boyfriend to me when we were at lunch. You work for his mother. Am I correct in guessing that he’s doing this as a favor to his mother so that she doesn’t lose you as her pilot?”

“That couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Kylo snorted. He grabbed Rey’s hand. “Come on Rey, let’s go.”

Regina grabbed Rey by the wrist. “No, wait. There’s something that Rey should hear first.”

Rey and Kylo paused, looking at Regina.

Regina stared at Rey and sneered, “If you do ever decide to, you know, actually sleep with him, you should know that he has a huge cock. That first time is going to  _ hurt _ .”

“We’re done here,” Kylo muttered, taking Rey by the hand and starting to walk away.

Rey wasn’t finished yet, however. She wheeled around and looked Regina in the eye and spat out, “You know what? Maybe it is huge, and maybe it will hurt, but Ben’s cock is  _ my _ cock.”

Kylo looked down at Rey, unable to hide the huge grin that had appeared on his face. He gently placed a hand on Rey’s back and said quietly, “Okay, come on, let’s go,” before leading her up the stairs and out of the passageway.

 

***

 

Briskly, Kylo led Rey through the palace hallways and past the entrance to the banquet hall where the gala was still going on. Rey hesitated in front of the open entrance and started to put one of her high heeled shoes back on.

“Aren’t we going back in?” she asked.

“No, I think we’ve put in enough of an appearance there for the night.” Pulling on her hand, he continued to lead her past the entertaining areas of the palace and on into the halls leading to the guest quarters. 

As soon as they’d made it to the hall that led to their own room, Kylo pushed Rey’s back into the wall, pinning her there. Hungrily, he turned his attention to Rey’s neck, kissing and biting her exposed flesh.

“What--” Rey gasped, “What are you doing?”

Kylo pressed his body into hers. “What you did back there? That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

Rey responded by grabbing the back of Kylo’s head, pulling his face down to hers. She kissed him forcefully.

“...room…” Kylo grunted semi-coherently, as he pulled back from Rey. 

Still somewhat pressed against the wall, they scrambled down the length of the hallway until Rey was able to reach the hand scanner to their door. Needing several attempts to do so, Rey managed to press her hand to the scanner in the correct position to open the door, after which she and Kylo tumbled into their room.

Trying to avoid breaking contact between their bodies as much as possible, Rey and Kylo stumbled over to the bed. Laying their sides facing each other, Kylo found the slit of Rey’s dress and placed his hand on her thigh. They continued to kiss with an extreme urgency.

“Say it…” Kylo panted, “Say it again…”

“What?” Rey replied, breathily.

“Say that I’m your boyfriend again.”

“You’re my boyfriend.”

“Again.”

“You’re my boyfriend.” She began to push one side of his tuxedo jacket off of his shoulder.

Kylo took the hint and rose onto his knees, removing his jacket the rest of the way and tossing it onto the corner of the bed. Rey rose up along with him and began to undo the buttons of his dress shirt. Kylo held her by the waist as she worked her way down his shirt, until she arrived at his waist and pulled the shirttails out from his pants before undoing the last few buttons. He aided her in pushing the shirt off of his shoulders.

They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and Kylo murmured, “I’ve been waiting all night for this.”

“Just tonight?” Rey feigned innocence, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Placing his hands at her hips, Kylo guided her back down onto the bed. “No, it’s been a lot longer than that. I just didn’t think that it would be at all possible until the other day.” He pressed a series of kisses to her jawline, then trailed them down her neck.

Rey gripped the back of his neck. “I don’t think this says much for me, but apparently, all you needed to do to make it possible was to stop chasing me with your giant lightsaber like a crazy person.”

He stopped for a moment and gave her a devilish look. “I thought that you liked my giant lightsaber.”

Giggling, Rey asked, “How drunk are you again?”

Kylo smirked. “Drunk enough to be confident that you won’t reject me?”

“I probably should, but to be honest, all I’ve been able to think about for the latter part of the night is having your hands all over me.”

“I’d be happy to oblige you in that,” he purred. “But first, we need to get you out of this dress.”  He reached around behind Rey’s neck and began to fiddle with the fastener that held the halter portion of Rey’s dress closed. He fumbled for a moment before sighing, “But apparently, I’m too drunk to undo this clasp.”

“I can do it,” Rey sat up and reached around the back of her neck. She undid the clasp, and the neckband fell softly against her collarbone.

Kylo began to slowly pull back the top half of Rey’s dress, alternately making eye contact with Rey and her chest as it became exposed.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“Kriffing hell! You have got to be kidding me!” Kylo yelled, cursing the insistent pounding at their door.

 

***

 

The gala was winding down. General Organa made a point of rejecting King Prana’s offer to escort her back to her quarters and found Poe just as he was watching Kaida walk towards the door after having given her a goodnight kiss.

“Ready to leave?” he asked.

“Beyond ready,” the General replied. She offered Poe her elbow and watched Kaida exit the room. “No nightcap for you two tonight?”

Poe grinned as he began to lead General Organa out of the banquet hall. “I was working on it. Apparently, I didn’t turn on the Dameron charm quite enough. There’s always tomorrow night, though, if we’re still here.”

“Oh?” the General asked, surprise evident on her face.

“Didn’t Rey update you? Kaida is going to help us get out of here. And then she wants to join the Resistance, so I’ve got plenty of time there.”

“No...I haven’t seen Rey in quite a while. Or Ben” She frowned. “The party is ending. Where  _ are _ they?”

Poe chuckled, “Last I saw either of them, Regina was attempting to lead Ben out of here, and Rey was in hot pursuit after them.”

“Oh no,” Leia sighed. “And no one has seen them since?”

“Not that I’m aware of, although it’s not like I’ve been babysitting them all night. Granted, with as much as they had to drink, they probably could have used a sitter.”

“So we don’t know if they ever made it back to their room.”

Poe stopped walking, reading the General’s face. “No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m suggesting.”   


“Yes, I do, and I’m sure that they probably want to be left alone right now.”

“But what if something is wrong?” They’d arrived at the T-intersection that led to Rey and Kylo’s room. “I just want to make sure that they’re both safe.”

“What are you so worried about? Who cares if they hook up? They’re clearly into each other,” Poe pointed out.

Leia shot him a glare.

He continued, “General, I mean no disrespect, but to put it bluntly, they were all over each other for pretty much the whole night. Whatever you think you’re protecting Rey...or your son from, you need to let it go.”

Ignoring him, and then clearing her throat, Leia announced, “Well, here we are. Here are their quarters.”

“No,” Poe shook his head. “I’m not doing it.”

“I just want to know that they made it back to their room safely. You said that they were with Regina? I don’t trust her. She got Ben into trouble more than once when they were teenagers."

“No.” Poe crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Can you just see if they’re in there and make sure that they’re okay?”

“No.”

Leia sighed. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but as your commanding officer, I am ordering you to check up on them.” She and Poe stared at each other for a moment before she added, “Just to make sure that they made it back to the room safely.”

The pilot sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

As he approached Rey and Kylo’s quarters, the General scurried around the corner so as to be out of view. Muttering to himself, Poe pounded on the door with three hard knocks.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Poe thought he heard a male voice yell something in the room. A moment later, the door opened partially, with a shirtless, disheveled Ben on the other side. 

“Oh,” Ben frowned, upon seeing Poe. “What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, um,” Poe stared at his feet, not wanting to make eye contact. “Um, certain parties were concerned when you and Rey disappeared from the party…  She, um, wanted to make sure that you were okay. Is Rey here?”

Ben shook his head and muttered, “My mother. Of course.” He stepped back from the door. “Rey is fine.”

Poe looked up to see an embarrassed-looking Rey sitting on the bed against the headboard. She clutched a pillow to her chest and appeared to naked from the waist up. Sheepishly, she gave Poe a small wave.

Clearing his throat, Poe met Ben’s gaze again. “Yeah, um, so I can see that everything is okay here. I’ll report that back to your mom. I’m really sorry about this, man.”

Ben gave a slightly amused smile. “No worries. I know that she put you up to this.”

“Right.” Poe motioned towards the hall. “I’m just going to leave now and let you two have your privacy.” He started to leave but then turned back around. “Um, not that I’m insinuating anything, but if your room is like mine, there’s a stock of condoms in the medicine cabinet. You know, if you need them.”

“Thanks, man,” Ben nodded.

“Have a good one.”

Ben gave a slight wave and closed the door. 

Poe shuffled down the hall to where Leia had been standing and watching but was out of earshot. 

“Well?” she asked immediately.

“They’re both there. They’re fine.”

The General relaxed visibly. “Good. That’s all I wanted to know.”

They began to walk back towards the General’s quarters in an awkward silence.

“Go ahead and ask,” Poe prodded.

“No, I really don’t want to know. And it’s none of my business.”

“Okay.”

They arrived at the General’s door. She scanned her handprint, opening the door and was about to step inside.

Poe gently grabbed her upper arm. “I don’t know why you’re so concerned about your son and Rey potentially hooking up, but from what I’ve seen, they really like each other.”

Leia turned to face him. “I know that I shouldn’t ask this.... But… Did it seem like you were interrupting anything?”

Poe sighed. “They were still partially clothed, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Partially?”

“That’s all I’m going to say. And you’re going to need to be okay with it. They’re adults.”

“Adults…” Leia’s voice trailed off.  “Thank you, Poe. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, General.” He gave her a quick nodded and headed down the hall towards his own quarters.

 

***

 

Rey watched as Ben made his way back to the bed, sliding in next to her. She still clutched the pillow to her chest.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said, shaking his head. “My mother sent Poe to check up on us.”

“That was...thoughtful of her,” Rey joked.

Ben responded by gently cupping her jaw and kissing her tenderly. Rey reached around, stroking his neck, capturing the pillow between their torsos.

Ben pulled back slightly, and murmured, “He also wanted to let us know that the ‘fresher is stocked with...protection, if we need it.”

Rey snorted, “That’s already taken care of. Why do you think you’re mom dragged me off to the med clinic this morning?”

“Another...thoughtful move by my mother.” He placed a kiss to her exposed neck. “By the way, as much as I very badly want you, I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Mmm-hmmm.” Rey loosened her grip on the pillow.

Ben began to pull the pillow away. “If you want me to stop at any time, just tell me, and I’ll stop. But outside of that, know that I very much want this--with you.”

“I know,” she nodded. “And I’m not going to ask you to stop, Kylo Ren.”

“Call me Ben,” he tossed the pillow aside, then leaned back and frowned. “What are those?”

Rey looked down. Instead of her bare breasts, as Ben had expected to see, Rey was still wearing the adhesive bra cups that she had worn under her gown earlier that evening. She blushed. “Oh, um, since my gown was backless, I couldn’t wear a strapless bra…”

A devilish look crossed Ben’s face. “May I…?”

Rey realized what he was asking, and nodded, granting him permission.

He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth again, and his hand went to palm her breast. Rey could feel him thumbing the edges of the bra cup, and he slowly and gently separated the adhesive from her skin. Once he was able to get his entire thumb under the cup, he pulled back and fixed his eyes on her breast as he peeled away the cup and tossed it aside. Briefly, he smiled wide before distracting Rey by crashing his lips to hers. With his other hand, while keeping his lips locked with Rey’s he peeled off the second breast cup.

Ben broke the kiss, leaving both of them panting. He leaned back, fully taking in Rey’s now completed bare chest with his eyes, and making Rey feel self-conscious for the first time tonight. 

Rey had never been this exposed in front of a man before, and she certainly felt her inexperience. However, she still was feeling somewhat emboldened by the lingering effects of the alcohol that she had drunk earlier that evening. If things went south tonight, she could always blame it on the Corellian whiskey, right?

  
Ben’s hand found the slit of her dress’s skirt again, sliding between her thighs. Involuntarily, Rey moaned; she knew that this was probably going to hurt, but she just didn’t care at this point. Catching his gaze, she murmured, “You once told me that you could take whatever you wanted. Tell me what you want, Ben Solo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut is coming.


	13. The One with the Smut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, we had an angry Rey pulling Kylo away from Regina. Rey's show of possessiveness was a huge turn-on for Kylo, which prompted him to lead Rey immediately back to their room where things quickly got hot and heavy, setting things up for...this chapter.

“I want you,” Ben murmured. As they laid on their sides facing each other, he looked down the length of her body and then frowned. “You’re still wearing half a dress.”

Rey raised one eyebrow. “You’re still wearing pants.”

“We should remedy both that and your half-a-dress.”

“Gladly.” Rey reached forward and undid the hook fastening the waistband of Ben’s tuxedo pants. Catching his gaze, she unzipped his fly. As she did so, her hand accidentally grazed his already-hard member. Ben shuddered at her touch. 

Instinctively, Rey flinched. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he grabbed her wrist. “Touch me.”  Quickly, he lifted his hips and shimmied his trousers down to his knees and somewhat awkwardly managed to kick them the rest of the way off. Laying on his side, he was now completely naked except for a snug pair of black briefs.

Hesitantly, Rey reached forward towards the bulge at Ben’s groin.

“Have you ever...touched anyone else before?”

“I haven’t,” Rey shook her head. 

Ben took her hand and placed it against the fabric that covered his cock. Using his hand as a guide, he encouraged her to rub up and down its length a few times. He moaned softly at her touch. 

Having never previously touched a human penis, or any sort of penis, Rey was surprised at how quickly Ben went from being moderately hard to rock hard. She became overcome with curiosity and wanted to know what it felt like when there wasn’t a layer of fabric separating his member from her hand. Aware that he was watching her, she slipped her hand under the waistband of his briefs. 

Lightly, at first, she touched Ben’s cock, then closed her hands around it to gently grip the shaft. Instinctively, she ran her hand up and down the length a few times. 

Ben moaned again and then stopped her by placing his hand over hers. “We still need to get you out of the rest of that dress. I want to see as much of you as possible while we’re doing this.”

“Okay,” Rey lifted her hips, allowing Ben to pull the lower half of the dress down over her legs and tossed it to the floor.

Ben moved up her body, his face hovering over hers. “You are amazing. I don’t deserve you,” he said quietly, before he began kissing her collarbone.

Rey ran a hand through the hair on the back of his head. “You know, it’s not like I’m some sort of prize to be won. Clearly, once we got taken out of our usual elements, we found out that we were quite compatible with each other.”

He squeezed one of her breasts, running his thumb over the nipple and watching it pebble at his touch. “Oh, I always knew that there was something special between us, but until a few days ago, I’d assumed that it was based on some sort of connection through the Force. Or lust--there’s definitely some lust.” He took her nipple in his teeth, causing Rey to gasp. He continued, “But now I know that it’s not just that. Even without the Force, you’ve got me completely falling for you.”

He continued to nibble and suck at her nipple, sending little spikes of pleasure through Rey’s body. She relished the warm feeling and the weight of his body as he rested part of his chest over her torso as his mouth worked his magic. She rubbed her fingers into his hair, his shoulders, and his back. Instinctively, Rey began to spread her legs beneath him; she wasn’t sure exactly how things were supposed to progress, but as of right now, she couldn’t get enough of what he was doing, and she knew that she wanted more.

Ben switched breasts, now nibbling and sucking on her other nipple, while he massaged the other breast with his hand, occasionally mixing in twists and pinches to that nipple. Rey felt torn between trying to grip him--on his back and upper arms, and wanting to touch him like she had started to earlier. After all, shouldn’t they be trading off who gave and who received pleasure in this? 

While Ben’s attention was focused on Rey’s breasts, she tried to inconspicuously stretch down and reach his cock. With her fingertips, she was barely able to brush the length of his shaft through his briefs. 

Giving a little moan, he stopped what he had been doing, and peered up at her through the mop of curls that had now fallen over his forehead. With a grin, he asked, “What are you doing down there?”

“I-- I want to touch you again.”

“But I’m not finished with you yet.”

“I thought we’d take turns,” she gave him a mischievous smile.

“You’re amazing.” He rolled off of her and scooted up to better position himself next to Rey and settled in laying on his side.

With the palm of her hand, Rey stroked the shaft of his cock through the fabric of his briefs. He half-closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.

Enthralled by the effect that she was having on him, she tugged at the waistband of his briefs. “I think I’m ready for these to come off now.” 

“Oh,  _ you’re _ ready?”

“Well, you know, I’m curious about the thing that’s supposedly going to rip me apart later tonight,” she chided.

A look of annoyance crossed Ben’s face. “I could have killed her for saying that.”

“I’m not worried.” She leaned down and kissed him, while slipping her hand beneath the waistband of his briefs again and running her fingers down his length.

“We’ll go slow, I promise. And you can ask me to stop at any time.”

“I’m not going to want you to stop,” she panted.

“I hope you won’t.” His hand joined hers, and together, they pulled his briefs down, ultimately  tossing them aside to join the rest of the discarded clothing that was strewn around the room.

“I’ve never seen a naked man in real life,” Rey murmured, as she took his cock in her hand and examined it. She ran her thumb over the head; a drop of something viscous appeared at the small slit at the tip, and she instinctively rubbed the substance into his skin. 

Ben shuddered. Gently, he took Rey’s hand and wrapped it around his shaft, placing his hand on top of hers. He began to pump, demonstrating to her the pressure and speed that he preferred. After a minute, Ben removed his own hand, placing it at Rey’s hip, and letting her work him on her own.  Rey felt him harden even more under her grip, and she watched their hands in motion with fascination. In the back of her mind, she had a thought that here was one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy, and  _ she _ , a scavenger from Jakku, was making his body react in this way. She quickly chased away the thought, reminding herself that here, neither one of them were either of those things; they were simply a man and a woman who were acting on their mutual desires. 

Not subtly, she stared at his member as she ran her hand up and down its length. He was big; Regina wasn’t exaggerating about that--not that Rey exactly had much of a frame of reference. She tried to wrap her head around the fact that THAT would be fitting inside of her. It would fit; it  _ would _ fit, and it was supposed to feel good. Sure, it would hurt a little, but the pleasure had to be greater than the pain, otherwise every other human female in the galaxy wouldn’t be doing this. Plus, it was only the first time that was supposed to hurt. At worst, this was something to get through the first time so that she could enjoy subsequent sexual encounters. Rey was not a woman to be intimidated by something like this, and she did not want to allow her nervousness interfere with this.

“Mmmm.. Faster,” Ben groaned.

Rey tightened her grip and sped up her pace. She watched his face as Ben’s eyes appeared to glaze over and his lip began to tremble. The skin covering his shaft tensed, and she could feel a pulsating sensation under her grip. 

“Oh… Rey…” he grunted. He threw his head back into the pillow. A thick, creamy substance began to spurt from his cock. “Keep going,” he gasped. 

Rey did as requested and continued to pump. As the flow from Ben slowed to a drip, Rey eased up on her grip, eventually stopping. Her hand was now covered in his seed. Ben reached over, grabbed his briefs off the floor and wiped himself off.

“Um,” he grinned sheepishly, “If you want to wash up in the ‘fresher, I won’t be offended. Just get back here quickly. We’re not finished yet.”

Rey looked at the sticky substance clinging to her hand and gave him a slightly goofy grin of her own. “I’ll be right back.”

She slid off the bed and made a quick trip to the ‘fresher to wash and dry her hands. When she emerged, Ben had pulled the covers down and was laying on his back with his head propped up against the pillow. His member now lay flopped over on his groin and looked much less intimidating in its current flaccid state. 

Wearing only her panties and resisting the urge to cross her arms in front of her chest, Rey blushed at the come-hither look that Ben gave her as she quickly shuffled back to the bed. Unsure of what would be coming next, she settled in next to him on her side. “So, now what?” she asked, trying to hide the bit of nervousness that she felt coming on. 

“Now,” Ben purred, as he rolled over half on-top of her, pushing her onto her back, “it’s your turn.” He attacked her mouth with his lips while he began to massage her breast again with the hand that he wasn’t using to brace himself. 

“Mmmm…” Rey moaned.

“Rey,” he murmured, “have you ever cum before?”

She was only vaguely aware of what he was asking. She knew that there was some sort of female equivalent to what she’d been able to do to Ben, but she’d never experienced it herself. Back on Jakku (and admittedly, even in her bunk in the few weeks that she’d spent on the Resistance base), she’d touched herself and explored her anatomy a bit. Depending on what she had done, it felt nice, but nothing close to what she could tell the Ben had felt a few minutes ago. 

“No,” she replied, somewhat embarrassed.

Almost as if he could read her mind--and she knew that he couldn’t right now--he reassured her, “There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” He slipped his fingers under the waistband of her panties. “Believe me, I feel very honored to be the first person to be able to do this for you.”

Ben began by simply massaging her mound with his fingertips. Her body responded by sending a warm tingling sensation to her core. She had allowed herself to relax slightly; however, as soon as she did, he parted her folds and started stroking the sensitive skin within with two of his fingers. Within a few strokes, he found an extra sensitive little nub and gave it a little swirl with his finger tips. The sensation was so intense that it caused Rey to buck her hips.

She was acutely aware that he was watching her face for her reactions to his touch. 

With a smirk, he repeated the move, this time a little slower and applying a little more direct pressure. “How is that?” he asked.

“Good,” Rey panted. 

He continued to work her little nub, varying his movements among rubbing and swirling motions. Not particularly in control of her body’s reactions anymore, Rey found herself writhing in response. 

“Still good?”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” she squeaked. Something was building inside of her. Heat and a noticeable wetness had rushed to the area between her legs. Her muscles throughout her body were starting to tense.

Ben paused for a moment and scooted down on the bed a bit. “I’m going to try adding something here. Let me know if this hurts or doesn’t feel good, okay?”

“Okay.” Rey mumbled, barely able to form the word.

Seconds later, she felt a new sensation of pressure between her legs, adding to the stimulation that her clit was already receiving. She lifted her head off the pillow to get a better view at what Ben was doing and was able to see that he had now inserted a finger into her with one hand while he continued to work her clit with another.

Ben looked up at her, clearly seeking her approval. Rey simply bit her lip and nodded.

“I’m going to add a second finger, okay?”

“Mmmm-hmm.”

She felt a small pinch, and the feeling of pressure increased, as did the overwhelming feeling of pleasure. There was some spot inside of her that he seemed to be stimulating; it was a completely new sensation to her. Whatever had started building in her earlier took a giant leap forward. She began to feel lightheaded, and her extremities began tingling. Clutching at the sheets, Rey found herself arching her hips off the bed.  _ Something _ was coming, she could tell that, and she was torn between wanting him to stop out of fear of the intensity and wanting to speed towards whatever that something was, as soon as possible.

Ben increased the speed of whatever he was doing. Just as Rey was starting to find the pleasure almost unbearable, her head suddenly became dizzy, and she saw both bright light and stars as she careened into her climax. She felt herself clench around Ben’s fingers as she found herself trying to rotate her hips. Ben eased up on the speed and pressure, guiding her through her orgasm. By the time it ended, she felt as if all of the bones had disappeared from her body. 

Continuing to watch her, Ben slid back up the bed so as to lay next to her again. He brushed a stray strand of hair from the side of her face. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” she replied, still somewhat out of breath. “I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“I know,” he grinned. Rolling somewhat back on top of her again, Ben grasped her hip and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “There’s a part of me that still can’t believe that this is really happening.”

“Same here. We didn’t exactly get off to the best start.”

“I don’t want to talk about that now,” he kissed her again.

“Me, neither. Not now.” She could feel him starting to become hard again against her thigh. “So, um, what comes next?” Rey would have been perfectly content to have left things the way that they were, but she had a feeling that Ben had other ideas. Besides, now that she’d gotten a taste of it, she wanted to know what actual sex felt like. 

“Well…  If you’re still up to it, I would still like to make love to you,” he grinned.

“I would like that,” she smiled. “Although, if it’s anything like what you just did, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand it.”

“I think you’ll be just fine.” He moved his hand up to her waist, brushing the underside of her breast with his thumb. “Do you feel ready?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

He kissed her again and shifted his position so that one of his knees was between hers. Following his lead, she spread her legs for him to better give him access. He swung his other leg over so that he was now on his knees between her legs. He pumped his cock a few times with his hand, and then ran a finger through the slit of Rey’s folds. “You’re still really wet,” he murmured, grasping her hip with his free hand. He leaned forward, bracing himself on one hand and positioning his tip at her entrance with the other.

Rey gave him a single nod, trying to cue him to proceed. She felt him slip his tip between her folds. He paused there for a second and then pushed into her. 

Yelping as a sharp pain tore through her, she tried to force herself to relax.

“Are you okay? Do you still want to do this?”

“I’m okay,” she replied, catching her breath. The acute pain soon subsided to more of a dull burning sensation. 

Ben began to move, slowly sliding in and nearly out of her with long strokes. As he had promised, he was clearly being as gentle as possible, given the circumstances. Rey felt the start of something building within her again. The pain was still there, but with the friction added by Ben’s movement, the discomfort was mostly in the background and not entirely unpleasant. As he continued with the same slow rhythm, the feeling inside her began to feel like an itch that needed to be scratched. She wanted more.

“You can go faster,” Rey told him.

“As you wish,” he smiled.

His thrusts started to become both harder and faster. Something was  _ definitely _ building up within Rey again. She held his upper arms and hooked one of her legs over his hip. More--she still wanted more. Periodically, one of his thrusts would hit a spot within her that made her vision go white for a split second. 

Watching him as he kept her in his intense gaze while he fucked her, Rey thought she might completely melt.  _ This _ was what it felt like to be completely connected with another person. She was past the point of being bothered by who the other person in this connection actually was; the Kylo Ren or Ben Solo or whoever he was here wasn’t the same person that she had first encountered on Takodana and who had interrogated her on Starkiller Base. 

The pressure building within Rey had intensified to the point where she knew that she was close to being pushed over the edge again. Clearly sensing this, Ben shifted his weight onto one hand and reached between them to rub her clit with the other. With the additional stimulation, Rey went flying into her climax a few moments later. She slammed her head back into the pillow and grabbed Ben’s arms, clutching them as hard as she could as she felt her walls clutch around his cock. In turn, Ben’s own climax was triggered, and he gave her a few more hard and deep thrusts as he spilled his seed inside of her. Panting, he rolled and collapsed to her side as he pulled out of her.

They simply looked in each other's eyes for a few moments before Rey finally spoke. She brushed his arm. “Is it always like that?”

“No,” Ben murmured. “It’s  _ never _ been like that for me.” He quickly added, “Not that there’s been many other girls or that it hasn’t been a while since the last time.”

Rey wondered if one of the “other girls” was Regina, but then decided that she probably didn’t want to know. Instead, she asked, “But I’m so inexperienced...what was different this time?”

“The difference is that I was with someone that I care about.”

Rey stared at him, trying to process what he had just said. She was the girl that no one wanted--the girl, who other than her few friends in the Resistance, no one had cared for. Without really thinking, she blurted out, “I care about you, too.”

“I know,” he whispered before forcefully pressing his lips to hers. 

Still somewhat groggy from their post-sex-haze, they kissed for a minute before pulling apart. Ben encouraged Rey to snuggle up against him, which she did without hesitation. Soon after, she drifted off to sleep, using the crook of Ben’s arm as her pillow.

 

***

 

The morning after the gala, General Leia Organa rounded up Poe to meet Kaida for brunch and to begin formulating an escape plan. She’d tried banging on Rey and Kylo’s door, but received no response. 

 

“You’re sure they were okay last night?” Leia asked Poe.

“They were fine, I swear it. They’re probably just sleeping things off,” he tried to reassure her.

“But I thought I heard a shower running when I stopped by their room a few minutes ago.”

“Then you know they’re fine,” he laughed. “Let’s get something to eat. They know the plan. I’m sure that they’ll join us when they’re ready.”

Leia frowned. “But if one of them was in the shower, then why didn’t the other answer the door?”

Poe rolled his eyes. “Come on, you know the answer to that.”

Leia glared at him, then fell in step with Poe as they headed to guest dining area. Under her breath, she muttered, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

 

***

 

About fifteen minutes after Leia, Poe, and Kaida had sat down to eat, Rey and Ben appeared holding hands. Both of them were still sporting damp hair and had huge grins on their faces. Leia couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her son looking as genuinely happy as he appeared now.

“Did you guys have a good time last night?” Poe asked.

Rey glanced at Ben and then grinned at Poe. “The best.”

Leia then noticed the blanket that Ben had slung over his shoulder. “What’s that?” 

“Oh, the weather is so nice, and Rey likes the gardens here so much that I thought we could have a picnic.”

Kriffing hell. Leia rubbed her forehead. A picnic? Any shreds of doubt that she’d had that her son and Rey were becoming genuinely involved with each other were now gone. Ben might as well have written “I got laid last night” on his forehead, given his body language at the moment.

“A picnic sounds lovely,” Kaida exclaimed excitedly. “The gardens will give us more privacy to talk, anyway.”

“Sounds good to me.” Poe gathered up the baskets of fruit and pastries from the table. 

The group sat down at the edges of the blanket and spread the food out at the center. Leia watched as Rey and Ben fed each other pieces of beignet. She tried to remind herself that she was young once and tried to recall if she and Han were ever this bad with each other. Being who she was, Leia’s gut instinct was to be wary of this new relationship; however, her more rational side told her that her son really did appear to be changing. He wasn’t the same angry person who had become a pawn of the First Order and had that used against him to hurt his family. 

Could Ben ever truly be happy? She used to have her doubts, but now watching him interact with Rey, Leia wasn’t so sure. In any case, she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by whatever had blossomed between Rey and Ben. Their top priority right now had to be finding a way out of here.

“So Kaida,” Leia began. “Poe tells me that you can help us switch off the GPS trackers so that we can all escape?”

“Yes,” the redhead enthused. “I should have access to the system that my father users for GPS monitoring. I would just need to figure out what your bracelet IDs are in the system, and I can disable those.”

“And then they won’t blow our arms off if we step outside of the bounds?” Ben asked, running his fingers up and down Rey’s arm.

“Correct. All functionality should be disabled then.”

“How soon can we do this?” Leia asked.

“Well, Father is going to be busy negotiating responses to any marriage proposals that came out of last night’s gala, so that should hopefully keep him somewhat distracted. I’ll try to find out exactly what I need to do this afternoon, and then we can all coordinate and hopefully make our break sometime tomorrow.”

Leia gave an audible sigh of relief. “Wonderful. Thank you for your help. And of course, you know that we’re extremely grateful for your help, and we’ll do what we can to thank you.”

“All I want is--” Kaida stopped. A look of fear crossed her face. “Change the subject.”

“What’s--? Oh.” Leia quickly put on a fake smile and exclaimed, “These beignets are wonderful!”

She watched as King Prana approached the picnicking group, surrounded by two of his guards. “My guests!” he announced. “What a lovely morning for a picnic.”

Ben looked up and asked flatly, “Can we help you?”

“Oh no,  _ you _ can’t help me at all,” the king grinned. “I came by to let Rey know to pack her things.”

“Why?” Rey asked, taking another bite of beignet.

The King squatted down and placed a hand on Rey’s shoulder. “Why, you’re headed to Birren! Barad Marnel was so taken by you last night that he’s already submitted a marriage proposal, which I accepted this morning!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Rey isn't actually going to Birren...
> 
> Thank you again for all of your wonderful kudos and comments!


	14. Betrothed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Kylo and Rey finally did the deed...only to have their post-coital blissful picnic interrupted by King Prana, who announced Rey's betrothal to Barad Marnel, governor of Birren.

Rey pulled away from King Prana. “No! I’m not going to Birren, and I’m certainly not marrying anyone unless it’s my choice.”

“Of course, you are. Barad Marnel made a very generous offer. I’ve known him for a long time, and I have no doubt that he will treat you quite well.”

“I don’t care.” Rey sprang to her feet, visibly distressed. “I’m not marrying someone that I’m not in love with!”

“Love,” the king scoffed, standing to face Rey. “No one of nobility marries for love.” He leaned in closer. “I know that you had quite a life of hardship until recently. I am giving you an opportunity to become Governess of Birren and to live a life of luxury for the rest of your days.”

“You can’t be serious,” Ben snorted and standing up, using his height to loom over the king. “Rey isn’t going anywhere.”

King Prana sneered in response. “You don’t know how lucky you are. Housekeeping discovered the evidence of the...activities...that you engaged in last night. He still wants to proceed with the union, even though his bride-to-be is no longer the virgin that he was originally promised.” He leaned in towards Rey, “I did have to lower your price some, given that you are no longer...intact. Two other prospective suitors pulled out, as well, once I told them about your indiscretion.”

Rey and Ben exchanged shocked glances. Out of the corner of her eye, Rey saw the General open her mouth as if she were about to say something but then quickly stopped.

Ben protectively placed his arm around Rey. “Rey is my  _ girlfriend _ . What we do in private is no one else’s business.”

King Prana chuckled. “Are you telling me that you’d like to reconsider my offer?”

“What offer?” Rey looked to Ben, clearly confused.

“You didn’t even tell her? Maybe you’re not as committed to her as I thought you were,” the king chuckled.

“Tell me what?” Rey asked, narrowing her eyes at Ben.

Ben lightly held her upper arms as he spoke. “Rey, when King Prana caught me in your room that first night, he gave me the option of marrying you, as a condition to release all of us. But obviously, we haven’t been dating for very long, and I figured there had to be other options. I didn’t want to try to rush you into anything.”

Rey couldn’t hide her shock. When he had shown up here, he’d seemed ready to just whisk her away to Ahch-To as soon as they’d all gotten away from Rinou. King Prana had essentially offered her to Kylo (or was it always Ben?) on a silver platter, and he’d declined?

“Excuse me,” Rey mumbled. “We need a moment to talk,” she grabbed Ben by the hand and led him away from the picnic and out of earshot of both King Prana and General Organa.

“I’m sorry--I should have told you.” Ben took her hand and rubbed it.

“No, it’s fine. I guess I’m just shocked that given your somewhat ulterior motive when you first showed up here, you didn’t jump at the chance that King Prana was offering you.”

He looked into her eyes. “I didn’t want you to hate me. I knew that you’d hate me if you were forced into something that you didn’t want. If you were going to be with me, I wanted it to be because you wanted to be with me.”

Rey put her arms around his waist and allowed him to pull her into his chest. “I want to be with you.”

Ben kissed her head. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“After last night, I can certainly think of worse things than being married to you.”

“Well, gee, that’s a huge confidence builder,” he chided.

“That’s not what I meant. I--”

“Rey,” he started, his tone becoming more serious, “I’m not exaggerating when I say that last night was the best night of my life.” He took a step back so as to more easily hold her gaze.

“Me too,” she said softly. “I mean it.” She threw her arms around his neck and pulled his face towards hers so that they could kiss. As they pulled apart after a minute, Rey added, “Let’s do this. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You’re sure?” Ben asked.

“I’m sure. Are  _ you _ sure?”

Ben took her into his arms. “As sure as I can be. I knew that you were special from the moment that we first met.”

Rey frowned. “When you froze me in the woods on Takodona?”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” He rubbed her back. “I didn’t want to tell you this before because I wasn’t sure how you’d react, but I saw you in a vision before we even met. I wasn’t sure that it was you at first on Takodona, but I thought that it might be, and I became absolutely sure of it when you fought me on Starkiller.”

“Really?” Rey looked at him quizzically.

“Really. And we were together--clearly as a couple--in the vision.” He laughed. “And then when I met you in real life, you were shooting at me. I couldn’t understand it.” 

“I had a vision about you before we met, too,” Rey said quietly.

“You did?” Ben clearly appeared to be surprised.

“Well, mine wasn’t quite as positive as yours. In mine, you were chasing me around with your lightsaber--similar to what happened in Takodana and on Starkiller.”

“That certainly explains a few things,” he grinned. “It’s a shame that your vision didn’t show you what happened after those those encounters.”

“I don’t know. I think that would have been even more confusing.”

A thoughtful look crossed Ben’s face. “You know, an engagement right now solves two problems. First, it gets King Prana off your back and stops him from trying to marry you off to someone else. Second, it buys us time to find a way out of here. I don’t know how long betrothals typically last around here, but around the rest of the galaxy, they’re usually at least a few months long. That gives us plenty of time before, you know, actually getting married.”

“Okay, even if I wasn’t already sold, you’ve sold me on this,” Rey grinned.

Ben looked over at the group on the picnic blanket, who were all staring intently at the couple at the edge of the garden. “So, you’re sure that you want to do this?”

“I’m sure,” Rey nodded.

“Okay.” Ben got down on one knee in front of Rey, prompting several audible gasps from the crowd on the picnic blanket. He took her hand in his and began speaking, a huge smile spreading on his face. “Rey Prana, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Rey beamed. “Ben Solo, I will marry you.”

He picked her up at the waist and kissed her, causing her to squeal. As he put her back down, he said, “Okay, let’s go tell our parents.”

Rey grabbed Ben’s hand, and they walked back over to the picnic blanket swinging their arms.

“We’re engaged!” Rey announced. No one sitting on or standing near the blanket appeared surprised. Out of the corner of her eye, Rey noticed the General managing a weak smile.

The king walked over to Kylo and slapped him on the back. Hard. “Congratulations!” he exclaimed. “I have been waiting for this day a long time--the day that the Prana family merges with the Skywalker family!”

 

***

 

After the rest of the group gave their somewhat awkward congratulations to the couple, King Prana and his guards led Ben and Rey down to his office. He’d insisted on immediately drawing up paperwork formalizing the betrothal. 

Poe, General Organa, and Kaida watched as the newly-betrothed couple exited the garden area with King Prana. General Organa wore an unmistakable look of apprehension on her face. 

“How are you doing, General?” Poe asked.

“Do you mean how am I dealing with the fact that my son very clearly banged your co-pilot last night?”

Poe laughed. “I really don’t see what the big deal about that is. Ben is, what, 29 years old? You couldn’t possibly expect him to still be a virgin…”

Leia sighed. “It’s complicated. There is a reason why Ben hasn’t been hanging around the Resistance for the past six years. He got caught up in some things that he shouldn’t have, although he does appear to have his head on straight now, or is at least heading that way.”

“They both seem very nice,” Kaida piped in, obviously somewhat uncomfortable with the situation that she had just been thrust into.

“How on earth did he and Rey meet? Clearly they know each other from before, even though Rey was stuck on Jakku for the past fifteen years.”

Leia thought for a moment before answering. “Their paths crossed briefly, around the time that Rey joined up with the Resistance. Beyond that, it’s more their story to tell than mine.”

Poe raised his eyebrows at the answer, but decided to let go of his line of questioning. Clearly, this was an uncomfortable subject for the General--his mentor and boss--to discuss. Poe had long been aware that the General had a son who she was estranged from on some level, but the General had never shared the details. Given their professional relationship, Poe hadn’t wanted to ask. Clearly, whatever had happened between them, the General was still pained by it.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Poe spoke. “Well, if you’re going to unexpectedly gain a daughter-in-law, you could do a lot worse than Rey,” he joked, trying to break the tension that had settled in over the trio.

General Organa shook her head. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that.” She turned to Kaida, “I am putting my faith in you that you’ll be able to help us get out of here long before any actual wedding takes place.”

Kaida smiled. “That shouldn’t be an issue. Usually, my father likes his daughters’ weddings to have the real feel of a ‘royal wedding’. They can take months to plan. I am very confident that we’ll all be able to get out of here long before that.”

 

***

 

“Please wait outside for a moment,” the king instructed the couple as they stood outside of his office door, surrounded by his armed royal guards. He disappeared into the office and closed the door.

After waiting for a bit, the king reemerged, and waved the couple inside. “Thank you for waiting, Please, come inside and sit down.”

Ben and Rey exchanged glances before complying with the king’s request.

As they took their seats, King Prana continued. “I had to notify Barad Marnel of the change in our arrangement. He was quite disappointed, understandably, and has decided to take Sulalle in your place as his bride.” The king shuffled some papers on his desk and threw Rey a side-eyed glance. “Sulalle might not be Force sensitive, but she is prettier than you are, and she doesn’t have the complaints about our culture that you seem to have. Not to mention that she’ll actually appreciate the luxurious lifestyle that Governor Marnel will be able to grant her...as opposed to marrying a prince without a kingdom.”

Ben winced noticeably at the word “prince.”

King Prana shrugged and continued dryly. “Yes, he is technically a prince--of Alderaan, Rey, although you were probably oblivious to that fact while you’ve both been busy running around with the Resistance.”

Ben cringed again. Rey placed her hand over his in an attempted gesture of reassurance.

The King looked up at Rey. “Granted, you are technically a princess, so I guess that it’s somewhat fitting that a lost princess would marry her lost prince. Just like something out of a fairy tale, you know?” 

Rey laughed nervously, “Well, he has turned out to be my knight in shining armor.”

The King turned his attention to Ben. “This doesn’t change the way that I feel about your mother, but I can acknowledge that she doesn’t share the same feelings for me. Once you have married into our family, your mother will be free to depart when she pleases. Of course, if she changes her mind about becoming my wife, my offer of an alliance still stands, if she wishes.”

“That’s so very generous of you,” Ben remarked sarcastically.

“Yes, well, I am nothing if not generous. I assume that you have been enjoying your accommodations while you’ve been staying here as my guests?” 

“You mean ‘prisoners’,” Rey muttered.

“I mean ‘guests’,” the king glared at her. He next turned his attention to a small stack of papers on his desktop and began to flip through them, signing each sheet. He handed the papers to Ben. “Here are your betrothal and marriage contracts. Please look through them and sign and date each page.”

Ben skimmed through the pages and handed them back to King Prana. “Before we sign anything, there is a provision that you need to add.”

“Oh?” 

“I want our Force suppression cuffs removed for our wedding and wedding night,” Ben assertively stated.

The king laughed. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Ben.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t trust that you wouldn’t use the opportunity to break your contract and try to escape.”

Ben looked over at Rey, who nodded in agreement with him. “I promise that we won’t do that.”

Rey added, “The Force is part of who we are. Please, allow us to experience our wedding and wedding night in a way that’s natural for us. I feel so...stifled without being able to connect to the Force.”

Trying to appeal to King Prana on a more personal level, Ben made another point. “I’ve heard that sex between two Force sensitive people is supposed to be mind blowing. Wouldn’t you want us to have mind-blowing sex on our wedding night?”

The king looked at them suspiciously. “I will concede you that point. Everyone should enjoy their wedding night. But tell me, why should I trust you?”

“We promise that we won’t try anything,” Rey pleaded. She didn’t know what it was, but she was fairly sure that Ben had some sort of plan that required them getting rid of the Force suppression cuffs, even if for only a short period of time. Of course, they would only need that plan if they couldn’t manage to escape before the wedding, but Rey was supportive of  _ any _ plan at this point.

“Look, I don’t care if you stage a bunch of guards with blasters outside of our bedroom door, but the first time that I make love to Rey as my wife, we should be able to both feel everything as we’re meant to feel it.” Ben was beginning to sound frustrated.

King Prana rubbed his chin. “All right. I understand your point, but I still don’t trust that this isn’t some sort of ploy. So yes, I will remove the cuffs, but you will also be surrounded by armed guards at all times that the cuffs are off.”

“Thank you,” Ben and Rey said in unison.

“I do have one more condition to ask of you, in exchange for the temporary Force freedom that I will be granting you.” The king pulled out another sheet of paper from a stack on his desk. 

“What condition?” Rey asked. Her mind racing instantly to things that she didn’t want to think about.

“There is still the matter of your wedding date to discuss. If you wish to be freed of your Force suppression cuffs, then I ask that you allow me to choose your wedding date.”

“Okay…” Ben replied hesitantly. 

Rey exchanged suspicious looks with Ben. Was this going to be the king’s way of keeping them here as captives for longer? Given the extravagance of the palace, it wouldn’t surprise her if King Prana wanted to host some sort of ridiculously lavish wedding. How many months would it take to plan something like that? Granted, Rey was sure that they’d find some way to escape before then, but it would sure be a whole lot easier if they could get rid of those Force suppression cuffs, even if it was only for a night.

With the thought of avoiding a prolonged period of planning in mind, Rey blurted out, “We don’t want a large wedding. We just want something small, simple, and intimate.”

“Fantastic!” King Prana clapped his hands together. “I was thinking the same thing. We’ll host a small, intimate wedding for you.” He jotted something down on the piece of paper and handed it to Ben. “Please sign this to make the date official.”

Ben looked at the paper and frowned. “You must be kidding.”

“What?” Rey asked, leaning over to glance at the paper. She then looked up at the king. “I think you’ve got the date wrong.”

The king beamed at the couple. “Oh no, there’s no error. You’ll be getting married tomorrow evening!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, I told you all that Rey wasn't going to Birren! Good thing she finally got laid, too, right? 
> 
> Just a warning--I've been hit with the head cold from hell, and it's made it difficult for me to write. I will try to get next week's update up on time, but there's a possibility that it could be a few days late.


	15. A short engagement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last we left Ben and Rey...they had just gotten engaged! And also just had King Prana drop the bombshell that he would host their wedding the following evening. Luckily, Ben has a plan to hopefully get everyone away from King Prana's palace...

“Tomorrow?” Rey gasped, looking to Ben. “You can’t possibly pull together a wedding by tomorrow.”

“Sure, I can. I’m the King of Rinou. I can do whatever I want,” The king crossed his arms and smiled smugly.

Ben placed his arm protectively around Rey. “It will be okay,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“Of course, it will be okay. You’re young and in love, are you not?” The king leaned back in his chair. 

“Yes,” Ben and Rey said in unison as they exchanged tentative glances.

King Prana continued. “You said that you only want a small, intimate wedding. Ben, you already have a tuxedo, which housekeeping has already taken to have cleaned for you. Rey, you will be escorted to choose and be fitted for a dress as soon as you leave my office. Really, all you need for a wedding is a dress, a tux, a couple of rings, and an officiant. I will generously invite your cohorts to serve as witnesses. I am sure that they will be very pleased to see you both formalizing your union.”

“Oh, I’m sure that my mother will love it,” Ben replied dryly.

“Well, she should,” the King leaned forward. “Since your mother finds my company so distasteful. As I promised, she will have her freedom after you are married.”

Rey felt Ben’s grip tighten on her shoulder. King Prana’s words served as a good reminder; they would be free after this, escape plan or not. She placed a reassuring hand over his. She looked over to him. “You’re right. Everything will be fine. Let’s do it.”

He leaned over and whispered into her ear, “No matter what happens, remember, we’ll be free afterwards. We can figure things out on our own terms.”

Rey brushed his cheek and leaned in to whisper back to him. “There is one thing that I want before we get out of here, if we do go through with this wedding.”

“And what’s that?” Ben asked.

“Our wedding night. Especially if it’s as mind-blowing as you’re promising,” she grinned.

“I think we can make that happen.” He placed a quick kiss on her cheek.

King Prana cleared his throat. “We’re all set then?”

“We’re all set,” Rey answered.

“Good. The guards outside will escort you to the palace dressmaker to start making arrangements for your dress.”

 

***

 

Shortly after Rey was escorted out of King Prana’s office by two armed guards, Ben was released to break the good news to his mother.

“One of my assistants will seek you out this afternoon to help you select your rings,” the king informed Ben.

Ben frowned. “Don’t couples usually pick out their rings together?”

“Under more traditional arrangements, yes,” the king explained. “But given the accelerated timeline of your betrothal, Rey will be plenty busy with her own preparations today. I assume that you and Rey know each other well enough that you’ll be able to select rings that will appeal to both of you?”

The question gave Ben pause. On one hand, he felt like he knew Rey better than any other human being he’d ever met. On the other, he had no idea what her taste in jewelry might be. He could please her in bed, sure, but what was her favorite color or her favorite food? Still, based on Rey’s personality, which he felt he had a pretty good feel for, he was reasonably confident that he could make an educated guess on what sort of ring she might like. 

“Sure,” Ben nodded. “I think I can pick something out that Rey will like. I assume that she’ll be able to have dinner with us tonight, at least?”

“Oh no, I can’t have you seeing the bride before the wedding now--it’s a Rinou tradition. I’ve already sent housekeeping to temporarily locate her personal items to another room tonight. You’ll see her again at your wedding tomorrow.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ben muttered. How was he supposed to be able to coordinate  _ anything _ with Rey if he couldn’t even see her?

“You’ll survive being away from her for a night.” The king rose and walked to the door. “Now, unless there’s anything else, you’re free until my assistant finds you to help you shop for your rings.”

“No, nothing else,” Ben sighed, shaking his head as he exited the office.

 

***

 

To Rey’s relief, Regina was  _ not _ the person who had been assigned to help her shop for her wedding dress. Instead, she had been assigned to work with one of the king’s personal assistants, a quiet, middle-aged woman. To Rey’s relief, the woman seemed mostly concerned with helping Rey complete the task of choosing a dress, rather than being caught up in palace gossip and politics.

The assistant introduced herself to Rey, “I’m Narsi.”

Rey reciprocated, “I’m Rey.”

The woman smiled and said “I know.” 

Narsi brought Rey back to the dressmaker’s boutique, explaining, “Since it’s such short notice, you’ll need to wear one of her samples, rather than having a custom dress made. Luckily, I think you’ll fit into one of her sample sizes just fine. I hope you don’t mind?”

Rey shook her head, “I don’t mind at all. Better a short engagement and marrying someone that I actually like rather than a long one to a stranger, right?”

“You’re marrying Ben Solo, correct?”

“Yes,” Rey replied, suddenly feeling shy.

“Lucky girl. You’re not the first one of King Prana’s daughters to have your eye on him.”

“So I’ve learned,” Rey laughed. “Although Ben and I did meet before I had any knowledge that King Prana was my father.”

Regarding her with warm eyes, Narsi replied, “You are a very lucky young woman. I mean that in a number of ways.”

“I know.”

Narsi led Rey over to a wall with a rack of gowns. “Now, do you have any idea what sort of dress you want?”

“No idea,” Rey shrugged. “Honestly, Ben and I haven’t been dating that long. A wedding was the farthest thing from my mind until a few days ago.”

She began to pull several of them from the rack, piling them into Rey’s arms. “I’m thinking something in ivory or cream. No one wears white anymore, not that traditionally you’d be wearing white now, anyways. Do you like lace?”

“I guess so?”

“You have a lovely figure. I’d like to show that off.” Narsi piled another dress into Rey’s arms.

“Sure,” Rey said non-committally.

“Let’s see what we’ve got. Are you ready to try some of these on?”

Rey nodded and followed Narsi to a dressing room.

In the end, Rey wound up with a cap-sleeved long sheath dress with a cowl neckline and slight mermaid hem in back. She turned around to admire her rear view. Even without alterations, the dress hugged her curves perfectly and gave her the appearance of having a perfectly shaped round bum. 

 

***

 

Still somewhat in shock after the morning’s events, Ben found himself wandering over to his mother’s quarters. To his surprise, she was actually there and answered his knock.

“Ben?” Leia looked surprised to see him.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure where else to go. I didn’t want to go back to my own quarters right now.”

Leia waved him inside with a concerned look on her face. “What happened? Where’s Rey?”

Ben sat down on the bed and sighed, “She’s been dragged off with one of Prana’s staff members. They’re keeping us separated until tomorrow.”

“Oh no…  What happened? You weren’t able to keep her from getting sent off to Birren?” Leia sat down next to her son.

“Oh gods, no! Prana accepted our engagement.”

“That’s wonderful!” Leia threw her arms around her son. “That’s really great news!”

The spontaneous act surprised Ben, who wasn’t used to this sort of display of affection from his mother. With some hesitation, he accepted the embrace for a moment before pulling back. “Well, it’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Rey and I are engaged. Prana is marrying some other daughter off to Barad Marnel.”

“That is good news,” she lightly rubbed her son’s back. “What’s the bad news?”

“Maybe bad news is an overstatement…  ‘Unexpected’ news is probably a better way to put it.”

Leia regarded him with suspicion. “What’s going on? Is Rey pregnant?”

“No!” He blurted out. “No...it’s, uh, well, King Prana set our wedding date for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” she frowned. “Can he even put together a wedding in that amount of time?”

“It’s going to be a small wedding--just us, the king, an officiant, and you and Poe, I guess.”

Leia thought for a moment before speaking. “And how do you feel about that?”

“Well,” he smiled sheepishly, “I’ve thought that Rey and I would somehow end up together ever since I met her. I guess this just accelerates things.”

“And how does Rey feel about it?”

Ben shrugged. “Well, I’ve certainly grown on her. She says that she cares about me. She made it very clear that she’d rather marry me than get shipped off to Birren.”

“If it doesn’t work out, you can always get an annulment. It might be a bit of a pain, but I can’t see any legal authority contesting an annulment considering the conditions that you’re being forced to marry under,” Leia offered.

Ben shot his mother a poisonous look. “It’ll work out. This might not be ideal, but I am sure that Rey and I will be able to work this out.”

Leia instantly realized how her words had come across. “You’re right. One way or another, it will all work out. Your father and I sort of rushed into marriage, but I have no right to project our failings onto you.”

“You mean the failings that I caused?” Ben muttered bitterly.

Leia pulled back to get a better look at her son. “No. If we hadn’t been so wrapped up in our own personal missions, and if I hadn’t been in denial for so long, I’d like to think that you never would have fallen completely under Snoke’s control the way that you did.”

Ben felt the tears begin to well up in his eyes. How had everything gone so, so wrong for such a long time?

Leia pulled her son back into an embrace. “I’m sorry, Ben. For everything.”

Ben allowed himself to simply be held for a minute. Finally, he ended the moment and pulled back. “Mother, there is something that I need to tell you. It’s about the wedding.”

“What is it?”

“I have a plan that should help us to get out of here. I did get King Prana to agree to remove Rey’s and my Force suppression cuffs for the ceremony and our wedding night.”

Leia’s expression perked up. “So, instead of a wedding, we might be getting a jailbreak?”

“Not exactly; Prana said that he’d have blasters trained on us the whole time. I’m not sure how many blaster bolts I can stop at once, and I certainly don’t want to put you or Rey in any danger. But, that doesn’t mean that I won’t take advantage of having access to the Force again.”

“Is there anything that you need from me?”

“Yup,” Ben beamed. “You will be playing a key part in this.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“You’ll know when the time comes. You won’t be able to miss it.”

***

 

Rey spent the next day being groomed and primped for the wedding ceremony that evening. 

“Is all of this really necessary?” Rey asked as an attendant used a heated appliance to weave ringlet curls into Rey’s hair.

“Regardless of the circumstances, it’s still a royal wedding,” the woman replied before finger combing a few of Rey’s curls.

“I didn’t even know that I was related to the king until a few days ago,” Rey protested.

The woman shrugged. “It’s not my call. I’m just doing what I’ve been told to do.” 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

The attendant began to arrange Rey’s curls, pinning some of them into place off of her face with tiny flower-adorned hair pins. “Are you nervous?” she asked.

Rey thought for a moment before answering. She  _ should _ be nervous, but she felt oddly calm about everything. “No, I’m not, actually.”

“Well, that’s good. You’re very lucky. Usually, he doesn’t let his girls marry their beaus. If you weren’t marrying into the Skywalker family, you’d probably already be on your way to Birren by now.”

“I’m just lucky, I guess.”

The woman adjusted a few strands of hair. “Well, that’s it for me. Your makeup artist will be here in a few minutes, if she’s not already waiting outside the door.” She pulled Rey into a semi-sincere embrace. “Good luck.”

Rey watched as the attendant left the room. “Thank you,” she said, too inaudibly for the woman to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I am so sorry for how long this took. I had a sick kid, then I was sick, and then my daughter was sick again. Between that and being busy at work, I had no time or energy to write. And then on top of that, this is a short, "setting up the chess pieces" sort of chapter where nothing much happens.
> 
> I will warn you that next chapter will be delayed as well...and I'm flying out to attend Star Wars Celebration tomorrow! But I do promise that when I get the next chapter posted, it will be all about our Reylo wedding.
> 
> Thank you again for your patience and sticking with this!


	16. A Reylo wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what it says. A Reylo wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still with me? Anyone? I apologize sincerely for the long wait on this. Life, sinus infections, and sapped writing mojo over the various recent 'Gates really sapped my writing motivation for a while.
> 
> ***
> 
> In any case, in our last chapter, Rey and Kylo had a VERY short engagement, culminating in Rey getting ready for her imminent walk down the aisle!

Leia sat next to Poe in a folding chair out in the palace gardens, which had been turned into a makeshift wedding venue. She surveyed her surroundings and noted that the palace staff had done a nice job on such short notice. The seating area had been decorated with flowers and paper lanterns, which softly glowed in the evening’s light. A small platform had been set up in front of the seating area, and one of the palace assistants and a photographer were adjusting flowers and candles to stage the area for the actual wedding ceremony that would soon be taking place. 

Shaking her head and trying to keep from laughing to herself, Leia still wasn’t entirely over the shock of how surreal the situation was. After his fall, never in a million years did Leia think that she’d be a guest at her son’s wedding. Given the little that she knew of her son’s time with Snoke, she’d never dreamed that her son would actually ever  _ get _ married. And the fact that he was marrying Rey--a young woman who Leia had grown quite fond of in the short time that she’d known her--and who seemed to be an amazingly good influence on him? Well, that was a miracle. And the fact that Rey and Ben seemed to be genuinely fond of each other, even if this relationship had been quite rushed, now that was a miracle on top of a miracle. 

In some ways, Rey and Ben reminded her a lot of a younger version of herself and Han. Clearly, the physical attraction was very strong between both couples, and as much as she didn’t want to believe it was happening in the case of Rey and Ben, both couples’ relationships clearly turned very physical very quickly. It had taken all of, what, a day or two for the young couple to to go from being enemies to ending up in bed together? 

Given everything that had happened over the past six years, Leia had been certain that Ben had shown up at the Rinou palace with ulterior motives, at least as far as Rey was concerned. And maybe that had actually been the case originally--maybe he had intended to show up and play “knight in shining armor” and rescue his mother and Rey, with hopes of sweeping Rey off her feet and whisking her off for whatever plans he had for her. Leia no longer believed any of this to be the case, as her son seemed to have grown to be genuinely protective of Rey at this point.

The feeling of a hand being placed on her shoulder broke Leia out of her reverie. She looked up to see her tuxedo-clad son standing in the aisle with the officiant. 

“How are you doing, Mother?” Ben asked.

Leia placed her hand over his. “I’m holding up. How are  _ you _ doing?”

 Ben smiled faintly. “This isn’t how I pictured this happening, but I think we’ll be okay. It’s going to work out.”

“Mr. Solo, it’s time,” a deep voice intoned.

Leia looked up to realize that her son was surrounded by armed guards. Her smile faded as the reality of the situation hit her with full force.

 Ben allowed himself to be led up to the platform. Leia watched as her son leaned in and whispered something to one of the guards, causing the guards to congregate around him in a short discussion. A moment later, one of the guards ran off and out of sight. He returned shortly; however, and immediately conferred with the guards still surrounding Ben. One of the guards nodded and prompted Ben to hold out his wrist and roll up his sleeve. The guard scanned his thumbprint on the Force-suppression cuff, causing the cuff to open and drop into the guard’s hand. Ben looked directly at his mother and smiled.

 Leia returned her son’s smile, but his expression quickly changed to one of intense concentration. He almost appeared to be in pain? What was happening? She looked to the guards surrounding her son, but they did not appear to notice what was going on yet.

 Seconds later, Leia felt it--the tendrils of the Force working their way into her brain. While not exactly painful, the sensation was somewhat uncomfortable, similar to the foggy headache-y feeling she’d get when she’d feel the rare bout of motion sickness coming on. Ben was doing this; she knew it. She glared at her son as he stood on the platform with a strained look on his face. What was he doing up there? Not knowing what else to do, Leia focused on trying to force the tendrils back out.

Ben shook his head slightly and mouthed the words, “Just go with it” to her, and the discomfort immediately eased up. Instead of invasive, the Force tendrils began to feel...comforting? A few seconds later, the pressure in her mind eased up. Leia looked up at her son, who was suddenly looking very nervous. She quickly looked away.

Without realizing it, Leia found herself staring at her GPS cuff. Suddenly, she realized that she just somehow _knew_ how the cuff was put together, and what would be needed to both disarm and remove the cuff without any harm coming to the wearer. Her eyes widened and she beamed up at Ben. Upon seeing her realization, Ben beamed at his mother and gave her a quick wink.

How had he done that? Not even Luke had ever simply “transferred” Force knowledge to her mentally like that. Leia hadn’t known that such a thing was possible. She didn’t have much time to ponder what had happened; however, because a string quartet had begun to play the processional for the ceremony. Leia whipped her head around to see Rey standing at the entrance to the seating area, her hand tucked in the crease of King Prana’s arm.

 

***

 

Rey inhaled deeply and slowly, trying to calm herself. With the stupid veil on, she could barely see anything in front of her, but she could make out Ben standing on a short platform at the head of the guest seating area. 

King Prana pulled her hand into the crook of his arm. She tried to yank it away, but the King held it in place. “You do realize that your father is supposed to walk you down the aisle at your wedding, don’t you?” he scolded her.

“Fine,” Rey muttered. It was one thing to be rushed into a marriage with her boyfriend (she guessed that she considered Ben her boyfriend now?), but this whole charade pretending that she and King Prana had a normal father-daughter relationship was almost too much. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that all of this would be over before she knew it. She looked up her betrothed, but he seemed to be conversing with the armed guards that surrounded him and hadn’t yet noticed Rey yet.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Rey turned around to find that one of the armed guards was trying to get her attention. “Your fiance reminded us that you’ve received permission to have these cuffs removed for the ceremony and your wedding night.” He pointed to the second cuff on Rey’s wrist.

“Oh yes, thank you.” Rey held out her hand, allowing the guard to remove the cuff. She rubbed her wrist, thankful to have the cuff gone for the night. Instantaneously, she felt like her senses had been heightened. Even though she had only been aware of her Force sensitivity for a short time, she hadn’t realized how badly she’d missed feeling the Force while her connection had been suppressed.

A string quartet began to play the wedding processional. 

“It’s time,” King Prana stated to his daughter. 

“Okay,” she nodded.

Silently, they walked down the aisle in time to the wedding march. King Prana guided her up the steps to the platform, guiding her to take her place next to Kylo.

Once Rey and Kylo were standing and facing one another, the officiant addressed the crowd. “Beloved, we are gathered here this evening to celebrate the union of two great families. As has been King Prana’s desire for many years, the Skywalker family and the Prana family will finally be united in marriage.”

“Rey,” the officiant nodded at the bride and then at the groom. “Ben.” He handed each of them a handheld holoreader. He then addressed the guests again. “Ben and Rey will now exchange their marriage vows. Rey, you may go first.”

With a shaky voice, Rey began to read the words on the reader. She’d worked with one of the palace assistants on crafting the words to at least give them some sincerity, and she’d refused to include anything that she didn’t truly believe. 

“Ben, we’ve only known each other a short time, but in that time, I’ve come to truly think of you as my soulmate. I can’t imagine sharing this type of a bond with anyone else, and I look forward to sharing our lives together.”

“The ring?” the officiant asked the guard standing closest to Rey.

The guard handed the ring to Rey. Trying to hold back tears, she took Ben’s hand and slid the simple platinum band onto Ben’s finger. Glancing down at the holoreader. “With this ring, I ask you to be my husband.”

“Your turn, Ben,” the officiant prompted gently.

Ben cleared his throat and began to read his vows. “Rey, I say this without exaggeration; you are the most amazing woman that I’ve ever met.” He grasped her hands, causing the tears to start streaming down her face. “I know that I don’t deserve you, but I am going to do everything that I can to ensure your happiness for our life together. I could not be more honored to be your husband.”

Without being prompted, Ben turned around and took Rey’s ring from the guard and placed it on her finger. “With this ring, I ask you to be my wife.”

Addressing the couple, the officiant announced, “By the honor vested in me by the planet of Rinou and by King Prana himself. I now declare you husband and wife.” He paused while the guests politely clapped then turned to Ben. “Ben Solo, you may now kiss your bride.”

Cupping her cheeks with his hands, Ben pressed his lips to Rey’s, gently at first, but then with more pressure. Without thinking, Rey parted her lips, allowing Ben’s tongue entrance. They kissed passionately, oblivious to the crowd around them until Rey heard a few cheers from the audience, followed by King Prana blurting out, “Hey, save something for the wedding night!”

Blushing, Rey pulled back from Ben and looked out over the wedding guests with a huge grin on her face. Ben took his wife’s hand, and they both gave a slight bow to their audience. On the cue, the string quartet began to play their recessional. Hand-in-hand, Ben and Rey walked down the steps off of the platform and back down the aisle to exit the seating area. 

Following the guards, the newlyweds were led to one of the palace ballrooms, where the reception would soon be starting. As instructed, they stood behind their seats at a table at the head of the ballroom, and were quickly joined by General Organa and King Prana. 

“Congratulations,” Leia embraced her new daughter-in-law. “Are you doing okay?” she then whispered.

“Yes, although, I guess I’m a bit of an emotional mess,” Rey smiled and wiped a tear from her face. 

“Are those...happy tears?” Leia gently nudged.

Rey nodded. “Yes. I never expected anything like this, but yes, I am happy.”

The older woman turned to her son. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Ben nodded and placed his arm around Rey’s waist. “And I wasn’t kidding when I said that I knew that I didn’t deserve her.”

Rey stretched up to place a kiss to his cheek. “Stop it. It’s not a matter of ‘deserve’. I fell in love with you, and I choose to be with you.”

One of the palace waiters stops by the table and hands flutes of sparkling wine to the wedding party.

Ben turned to King Prana. “So now that we’re married, when do we get to return to the Resistance, like you promised?”

The king waved him off. “Soon, soon. The rest of your party,” he gestured to Leia,”will be able to leave the day after tomorrow. For you and my daughter, we have a few days of traditional post-wedding events planned to introduce you to the constituents of Rinou.”

Rey shrugged and looked at Ben. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“And you absolutely promise that will be the case?” Ben prodded.

“It will be unless I have reason to change my mind.” The king grinned somewhat menacingly. “So make sure that you’re on good behavior for the next few days.”

“Oh, we will,” Ben replied flatly.

“Father,” Rey asked, trying to sound sincere. “Can we at least keep the Force suppression cuffs off for the remainder of our stay here?”

King Prana frowned.  “I’m letting you keep them off for your wedding night. If you’re planning to behave for the next few days, why would you need access to the Force? You’ll be busy making appearances for the Rinou media and whatnot. Surely, you don’t need to be levitating objects or swinging lightsabers or the like.”

“Okay,” Rey said dejectedly.

“I’ll consider it and let you know tomorrow,” the king added.

“Thank you,” Rey replied.

Ben leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Even if he doesn’t, it’s taken care of.”

“How?”

“Trust me.”

Poe and Kaida approached the couple. Poe cleared his throat. “Uh, congratulations, you two.” He offered Ben his hand, which Ben shook.

“Thanks, man.”

“So, uh, does this mean that you’ll be coming back to the Resistance with us?” Poe asked.

Ben and Rey exchanged glances. “I’m going wherever Rey goes,” Ben stated.

Rey couldn’t hide the huge grin that appeared on her face. “And I’m going anywhere you’re going.” She reached up and pulled his face to hers, giving him a quick kiss on the mouth.

“When do we all get to leave?” Poe looked slightly uncomfortable at Rey’s show of affection.

“It sounds like you and my mother get to leave the day after tomorrow. Rey and I have to stick around a few more days.” 

“That’s a relief,” Poe nodded.

“Yup.” 

“Hey you, two! Congratulations!” The group’s conversation was interrupted by an older couple that Rey didn’t recognize. The woman introduced herself as an aunt of Rey’s, while Poe and Kaida excused themselves to return to their seats, leaving Rey and Ben to smile, nod, and say “thank you” to a parade of well-wishing wedding guests who they didn’t know.

After what felt like a much-too-long cocktail hour, all of the guests were seated, and the dinner service began. The courses all consisted of Rinou delicacies, none of which Rey was familiar with, and many of which she had to whisper to Ben to help her identify. 

Dinner gave way to music and dancing, forcing Rey to endure an exceedingly awkward Father-Daughter dance with King Prana. She moved stiffly as the king led her around the dance floor as a traditional Rinou wedding song played. 

“So, how soon until we can welcome some Skywalker babies into the family?” the king asked her.

Her patience worn thin, Rey muttered her response. “When we’re ready.”

Mercifully, the song ended after a few minutes, then it was Ben and Leia’s turn on the dance floor. Rey watched as her new husband gracefully led his mother in the traditional Mother-Son dance. The height difference between the two was almost comical, with Ben standing over a foot taller than his mother. Rey watched as Leia looked at her son with a sense of pride that she had not yet seen in these past few days since they were reunited for the first time since Ben’s fall six years ago. 

The song ended, and King Prana stepped back out onto the dance floor, announcing that Ben and Rey would have their first dance as a married couple. Ben quickly jogged over to the leader of the string quartet, then back to Rey, positioning her just as they had danced together the other night. Rey recognized the first few bars as being some sort of waltz. She gave Ben a quizzical look as they began to move across the dance floor.

“I know that a waltz isn’t a typical first dance song,” Ben explained. “But it was _our_ first dance together. Plus,” he added with a grin, “It’s also one of the few dances that I know you’re comfortable with.”

Rey beamed up at him. “You know, you are incredibly sweet when you want to be.”

“I know.”

As they glided around the dance floor, Rey couldn’t stop staring at her husband, embarrassingly aware that she was unable to stop smiling. It could have been the couple of glasses of sparkling wine that she’d had with dinner, but she knew it was more than that. While she didn’t know what the future held for them, although she was cautiously optimistic about it, she knew that in this moment, she was simply the happiest that she could ever recall having been before in her life.

 

***

 

The evening started to wind down several hours later, long after Rey had had her fill of cake, dancing, and wine. She’d been slow dancing with Ben, who murmured softly to her, “I think we’ve put in enough of an appearance here. What do you say we head back to our quarters?”

“I’d like that,” Rey replied.

“Shall we, then?” he offered Rey his hand, which she took, and he started to lead her out of the ballroom. As they approached the entrance, however, they were stopped by two of the King’s armed guards. 

“We’re just going back to our rooms for the evening,” Ben informed them.

The guards exchanged glances. “Wait right here,” one of them said before scurrying off to where King Prana stood on the other side of the room.

A moment later, the guard returned. “Okay, the king says that you can leave now, but we have to escort you.”

Rey sighed, trying to refrain from rolling her eyes. “Fine,” she muttered. 

Ben squeezed her hand in a show of solidarity, as the couple allowed themselves to be led out of the ballroom by the guards. Once they reached the entrance to the hall with their sleeping quarters, he gave Rey’s hand a slight tug. “Just a second.”

Rey gave him a slightly confused look before, without warning, Ben bent down and scooped his bride up into his arms. She squealed in surprise before hooking her arms around his neck. 

“What’s this?” she asked.

Grinning, Ben replied, “It’s tradition to carry a bride over the threshold to your residence.

He carried Rey the length of the hallway, and quickly scanned his hand to open the door to their quarters. As the armed guards looked on, he brought Rey through the doorway into the room, then immediately closed the door behind him. Gently, he placed her down on their bed.

“Now what?” Rey fluttered her eyelashes with a look of mock innocence.

Ben climbed onto the bed next to her. “Now it’s time for our wedding night...if you’re ready for it, Mrs. Solo?”

She placed her hands around his neck, drawing his fact to nearly touch hers. “Oh, I am definitely ready for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me!
> 
> I doubt that I'll be posting on a weekly schedule for a while, but I will try to post much more regularly and not have another big gap like this. We're coming up on a few chapters with a lot of action sequences, and I'll admit that as someone who has trouble writing action, I'm a little intimidated by what I have planned writing-wise.
> 
> BUT I've also started working on a series of Reylo one-shots. I've got a handful of drafts in varying states of progress, so keep an eye out for those.


	17. A Reylo wedding night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here. The Reylo wedding night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize profusely for the nearly 11 months that it took to update this fic! Your continued comments on this fic and questions on if/when I'd update were the only things that kept me from putting this on semi-permanent hiatus....but I AM determined to finish this fic now, especially as we're nearing the fic's climax (no pun intended). 
> 
> In any case, for those of you who have bookmarked/subscribed and don't want to re-read the whole fic, here's a brief rundown of where we left things off:
> 
> * Leia, Rey, and Poe set off on a diplomatic mission to try to form an alliance with King Prana of the planet Rinou. Rinou has typically been a neutral planet, but King Prana is no fan of the First Order. (Gosh, when I last updated this, we had no idea what an asshole Poe would turn out to be!)  
> * While staying at the palace on Rinou, our gang discovered that Rey was a long-lost daughter of King Prana's. It turns out that King Prana marries off his daughters to form political and trade alliances, and he planned to hold a gala to essentially auction off Rey to the most desirable (to Prana) suitor.  
> * Hearing word of what was happening on Rinou, Kylo Ren rushed to the palace and broke into Rey's bedroom under to prevent her being forced to marry (*coughs* someone who wasn't him) against her will. The commotion led to King Prana and his guards capturing an unmasked Kylo Ren, who King Prana knew as Ben Solo through Leia, in Rey's room. The King slapped Force-suppressing cuffs on both Rey and Ben to prevent any further escape attempts.  
> * Rey and Ben pretended to have an existing relationship to get Rey out of any impending engagements, but wound up being engaged themselves as their only option. While all of this happened over the course of several days, Rey and Ben did fall in love with each other.  
> * In our last chapter, Rey and Ben were indeed married to each other. King Prana conceded to having the Force suppression cuffs removed for the wedding ceremony and wedding night, leading us to where we are now...

“So, Mrs. Solo,” Ben asked with a devilish grin, hovering over his bride as they laid on the bed in their quarters. “What would you like to do now?”

“Mrs. Solo? Aren’t we being a little presumptuous?” Rey huffed with mock indignation. “What makes you think I’ll be changing my name?”

Ben snorted. “So you’d rather continue to go by the name ‘Rey Prana’?”

Rey punched his arm, perhaps a little too hard. “Stop being right!”

“Fine.” He rolled off of Rey and to the side. “So I’ll assume that you’d just like to go to sleep now, then?”

“If that’s what you want.” Rey folded her arms over her chest.

“I think you know what I want.” With that comment, he placed a hand on her hip and stated with a look of hunger on his face, “It’s time to get you out of this dress.”

She stood up from the bed and turned around with her back to him. “Then help me out here.”

“Of course.”

Painstakingly slowly, or at least it felt that way to Rey, Ben undid the dozens of little buttons and loops that fastened her dress up the back. Once he’d reached her hips, Rey began to shimmy out of the dress. Impatiently, Ben grabbed the dress and pulled it down to her ankles. Rey was fairly sure that she heard a few buttons pop off in the process.

Now wearing only a white lace bustier, panties, garters, and stockings, Rey turned around with a raised eyebrow. She leaned in and pushed Ben’s jacket off of his shoulders. “Okay, it’s your turn now.”

Maintaining eye contact with her new husband, Rey finished removed his jacket and tie, then began to unbutton his shirt. Mimicking the deliberateness that Ben took with the buttons on her dress, she undid the shirt buttons until she reached his waist, at which point she pulled the shirt hem out of his pants and undid the last button. She slid her hands under the open shirt and carefully slid it off of his shoulders.

“This is taking too long,” Ben muttered with mock irritation as he wrenched the shirt from her, pulling it down his arms and tossing it to the floor.

“If you say so,” Rey replied with a grin as her hands flew to Ben’s belt buckle, which she quickly undid. She unfastened the hook on his trousers, but before she unzipped those, she stuck her hand down the front of his pants, giving his bulge a firm rub.

“Ohhhhhh…” A groan escaped Ben’s mouth. Quickly, he slipped out of his shoes, shoved his trousers down over his hips, leaving him dressed now only in a pair of black briefs and his socks. He grabbed Rey by the waist and walked her backwards over to the bed, lightly pushing her down on her back.

“Wait, those have to come off, too,” she pointed to his socks.

“They will; be patient.” Ben climbed up onto the bed, grabbed Rey’s waist again, and slid her back so that her shoulders were up against the pile of pillows at the head of the bed. “My socks don’t come off until yours do.” 

With unexpected grace, Rey felt him unclip the garters at her thighs from the stockings that she wore. Seamlessly, he rolled each stocking down her leg, caressing her thigh as he did so. Rey tried to not wonder how he’d learned how to do this, telling herself that he must have picked it up from a holovid at some point. 

“Lando,” he stated.

“What? What’s Lando.”

Ben grinned and shook his head. “Lando isn’t a ‘what’; he’s a man. You were wondering where I learned how to do this.”

Rey blushed. With their Force suppression cuffs gone, she hadn’t realized what an open book her mind would be to Ben. “I--,” she swallowed. “Yes, I was wondering.”

“Lando was a friend of...of my family.” A wistful look suddenly crossed Ben’s face. As if to hide that look, he arched his back, turned his head and kissed Rey on the inside of her knee. “To say that he was a bit of a ladies’ man would be an understatement. Anyway, we’d visit him on occasion, or he’d visit us, and once I was a teenager, he’d occasionally try to teach me some of his tricks.”  Ben reached down and rolled the stocking the rest of the way off of Rey’s foot. “Never in my dreams did I actually think that I’d get to try  _ this _ one.”

“Lando sounds...interesting,” Rey offered.

“He is. I’d say that I’d like you to meet him someday, but he’d probably make a pass at you.”

Rey grinned and rubbed Ben’s shoulder. “He can make a pass at me all he wants, but the only man that I’m interested in is you.”

“I am very happy to hear that.”

With that comment, Ben rose to his knees on the bed, placed his hands at Rey’s hips and rolled her onto her stomach. His hands flew to the laces of her corset. “This needs to come off now,” he explained. Deftly, he untied and loosened the laces.

Rey swung her legs under her, slid off the bed, and wriggled the rest of the way out of the corset, tossing the support garment to the floor. She hopped back onto the bed and hooked her thumbs under the waistband of Ben’s remaining undergarment. “Your turn to lose something now,” she said playfully, as she pulled the briefs down over his large, erect cock, which seemed to spring out at her, as if it had just been freed. She placed her hand around his cock, gave it a quick couple of pumps, and rolled his briefs the rest of the way down to his knees, allowing Ben to slip out of them and kick them off to the side somewhere.

Gently, he nudged Rey back onto her back on the bed. Without consciously realizing it, Rey was able to easily pick up all of his thoughts. Ben still couldn’t believe that any of this was happening--that after everything that had happened, and that after everything he’d done, that he was actually here--about to make love to Rey, his WIFE (he seemed extra excited about that word), who cared for him and wanted him in return. He climbed up onto the bed and hovered over her, looking into her eyes.

“Ben…” she murmured, looking up at him in adoration.

“You really love me,” he replied softly, almost in disbelief.

Rey realized that he was picking up her thoughts, as well. “I do. I really do.”

Lightly, she grasped his upper arms, and he pressed a firm kiss to her mouth. As they physically connected, any mental barrier separating their thoughts as individuals seemed to disappear. When he shifted and took her left nipple in his mouth, Rey couldn’t be certain as to whether he did so because she had been wishing that he would, because of his own desire, or because both of their desires had apparently merged.

Ben continued to work Rey’s nipple with his mouth, licking and sucking with just the right amount of pressure, while he massaged her other breast with his free hand. Rey moved her left hand from his arm to his head and threaded her fingers into his hair. She relished every inch of skin-to-skin contact that they had. Although she knew that the evening was just getting started, she couldn’t wait to feel him inside of her, now that she could finally fully experience these sensations without being impeded by the Force suppression cuffs.

Her mind began to wander… How long would it be until they were free from this place? How long before she’d be able to enjoy this sort of intimacy again with Ben? 

“Hey,” Ben looked up from her breast, addressing her thoughts. “Don’t worry about that while we have...this. Be here, with me, now.”

He began to kiss his way down her torso. In anticipation, Rey propped herself up on her elbows to better see what he was doing. He paused at her navel, then skipped all the way down to her inner thigh just above her knee. She let her head flop back against the pillow, frustrated at the way he was drawing this out.

Again, Ben read or at least sensed her thoughts. “Hey, we have all night. There’s no reason for us not to take our time,” he said, smirking out from under a stray lock of black hair. With that, his attention returned to her inner thigh, where he alternately kissed, gently bit, and sucked at her tender skin. Far too slowly than what Rey found acceptable, he made his way up towards her groin, then paused.

Rey propped herself back up on her elbows. “You’re stopping?” she practically whined.

“You want me to continue?”

“Stop teasing me!” Rey’s exasperation was audible.

“Okay, then,” Ben immediately ducked back down between her legs and using two fingers, gently parted Rey’s outer lips, then immediately used his tongue to take a long swipe up the length of Rey’s slit. He peered up at her, watching her reaction.

Rey’s breath hitched at the sensation. Ben took this as a cue to continue and with enthusiasm, dove back in to repeat what he’d just done. However, this time, he didn’t pause after the swipe. With his tongue, he explored the area around Rey’s clit, testing her reaction to different amounts of pressure and different patterns of licking. Rey arched her pelvis, attempting to give him more access, and when he finally began to apply direct pressure to her nub, her hips bucked involuntarily.    


“That’s it,” he murmured. 

“Hmmm?” Rey was so lost in sensation that she was only vaguely aware that Ben had said something.

“Don’t worry about it,” he chuckled into her thigh, before attacking her pussy with his mouth again. 

Rey moaned in response, her body writhing under Ben’s touch. In response, Ben slid two fingers into her, marveling at her wetness and how easily he was able to slide in.  While his mouth continued to work her clit, he pumped his fingers in and out of her, making sure to curl them just in the right way to stimulate that sensitive patch at her front wall. 

Rey flopped back against the bed again, gripping the sheets, in desperate need to clutch onto something. Ben pumped his fingers faster and applied more pressure to her clit as he swirled his tongue. She felt her walls begin to flutter and then clench down around his fingers as she crested to a hard peak then fell apart, her head ringing and her vision turning white for a few seconds. 

For a few minutes, Rey simply lay there, her head turned to the side watching her husband climb back up beside her as she caught her breath. Inspiration struck Rey once she was able to move again, and she scooted up to lean over her husband, who was now laying on his back. Forcefully, she pressed her mouth to his, sliding her tongue between his lips, and tasting the lingering taste of herself that was still there. When she broke the kiss, they were both panting, with Ben looking at her with raised eyebrows.

With a devilish look in her eye, Rey flung her leg over Ben and scooted back so that she was straddling his hips. Reaching behind her, she grabbed his cock and pumped a few times. She was quite happy that he was still quite hard. As she held him steady, she carefully attempted to lower herself onto him. She bumped herself rather awkwardly in the wrong places a few times before she managed to successfully guide him into her entrance, but when she did...she gasped. She felt such a wonderful sensation of being filled, and she entirely controlled the angle of penetration herself. Experimentally, she slowly raised and lowered herself onto his member, causing them both to gasp. As she became more confident, she sped up, increasing the friction and causing their connection to tear wide up.

As Rey felt the tension begin to build again within her, she realized that she could sense  _ Ben’s _ pleasure, too, without even trying. His hands flew to her hips as she bobbed up and down on him. She read his thoughts as they flitted about, broadcasting phrases like “don’t come yet,” and “so wet and so tight around me,”  along with the frequent, “Gods, Rey, you feel so good.”

Rey’s head flopped back as she continued to work. Ben then took this cue to begin thrusting up into her--thrusting harder and faster than she he had been working on her own. He began to repeatedly hit that special spot inside of her, and before long, she felt her walls clenching around him. 

“Gods, Ben!” she cried out. 

He slammed her down onto him hard several times in a row, pushing her over the edge and causing her vision to go white. With him gripping her hips the way that he was, she had no choice but to allow him to continue, trying to ride out her orgasm while wondering if she was going to pass out from sheer pleasure as he hammered her G-spot over and over. Her whole body spasmed a few times, which was enough to push Ben over the edge himself. He slowed the pace, essentially impaling her on his cock a few more times as she felt his hot cum spewing inside of her. She held on, allowing him to work through his own climax, before she collapsed onto his chest.

They laid in silence for a few minutes, panting and trying to catch their breath. Eventually, Rey swung her leg over his hip, allowing him to slide out of her. She snuggled up into the crook of his arm. 

Ben tenderly stroked her hair. “I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you, too.”

“I knew that you were special...that you would be special to me, even back on Takodona, but I never imagined anything like this.”

“I don’t want this to end,” Rey sighed.

“End? Why would it end?” Ben frowned.

“Even if you don’t go back to them, won’t the First Order come looking for you at some point?”

Ben shrugged. “Snoke might. Hux will probably be happy to have me gone, more than anything.” He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. “Besides, I’ve been gone for nearly a week, and we haven’t heard a peep out of them. Hopefully, they just think I’m dead.”

“Hopefully.” Rey ran a finger down his chest. She hoped that he was right, but she had a nagging feeling that breaking away wouldn’t be quite as simple as that. Pushing the thought from her mind, she nuzzled her face to Ben’s chest and slowly allowed sleep to overtake her.

 

***

 

As they had previously agreed upon, Ben and Rey met Leia and Poe for brunch in the garden the next morning. They’d already gone for two more rounds of sex--once when Rey woke up to find Ben’s erection poking her in the back in the middle of the night, and then again this morning in the shower as they’d gotten ready. Unsurprisingly, Rey wore a dreamy, blissed-out face to the brunch table.

“So, uh, how did the wedding night go?” Poe asked, somewhat awkwardly.

Rey stared at her empty plate and blushed. She wondered when their food was going to arrive. 

“Oh?” Poe raised an eyebrow. “Well, congratulations, man.” He leaned across the table and gave Ben a slightly-harder-than-necessary playful swat on the arm.

Leia cleared her throat. “I don’t think we need to hear any details, but I do want to reiterate that it was a beautiful wedding, and you both seem genuinely happy. Again, you have my congratulations.” She smiled warmly at Rey, “And Rey, welcome to the family.”

“Thank you, General.”

Leia shook her head, slightly exasperated. “Will you please start calling me Leia now?”

Rey grinned. “Okay, thank you, Leia.”

Two servers appeared at the side of the table and set down pitchers of juice, caf, and baskets of fresh fruit and pastries. 

Rey grabbed one of the pastries out of the basket and immediately took a huge bite. With her mouth still full, she mumbled, “I won’t miss much about this place, but I am going to miss these pastries.”

“Rey, wherever we end up, I will be happy to get you a service droid to bake you fresh pastries every morning, if it means we never have to come back here again.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Are you sure that you don’t want to come back here for holidays to spend time with your new father-in-law?” she chided.

“Absolutely not.” Ben placed a pastry on his plate and looked around. “Shouldn’t they be letting us go soon? We fulfilled our end of the deal.”

“I think so.  I don’t know that we agreed on an exact time or anything, though.”

“I’m sure that someone will be by soon to talk to us,” Leia tried to reassure the group. “We’ll be leaving soon.”  As if on cue, Leia’s face brightened. “See? I think King Prana is coming our way.”

Rey swiveled around to catch a look at the King as he approached with his guards. Something seemed to be off, though. Confused, she turned back to Leia and quickly noticed that Leia’s face had darkened for a few seconds before changing into something more neutral. 

Maintaining her composure, Leia began speaking. “King Prana, thank you for your lovely hospitality this morning. You’ve been a wonderful host during our stay here on Rinou.”

“I wish I could reciprocate the sentiment,  _ Princess _ ,” King Prana replied.

“Is something wrong?” Leia asked. “If there’s been a misunderstanding--”

“Oh, I’m sure that there’s been no misunderstanding,” the King cut her off. He turned his attention to Ben. “Our housekeeping staff began cleaning your room this morning as soon as you departed for breakfast.”

Ben mumbled sarcastically, “Sorry about the mess.”

“Oh, there’s no need to apologize for the mess. What they found was quite...illuminating.”

“What are you getting at?” Ben glared at him.

King Prana leaned forward, getting in Ben’s face. “Under the bed, one of our housekeepers found your mask,  _ Kylo Ren _ .”

The King nodded at his guards, who surged forward and slapped Force restraining cuffs on Ben and Rey.

“What are you talking about?” Ben feigned ignorance.

Rey bit her lip and stared at her plate to try to hide her fear. She’d completely forgotten about the mask that had gotten kicked under her bed the night that he’d broken into her room. She took a deep breath and tried to reassure herself. Ben would take care of this. She knew that he would.

The King turned his attention to Leia. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t know about this. You’ve been protecting your son this entire time, even though he’s a high-ranking officer with the First Order.”

Leia shrugged and took a sip of her mimosa. “He’s my son. And you did agree to let us all go once a merger of the Skywalker and Prana bloodlines was imminent.”

“He’s the same person that he was when he married Rey.”

“Enough! He is an officer with the First Order, and therefore an enemy of Rinou.” King Prana motioned to the guards who hoisted Ben out of his chair by his upper arms. “If you want no further trouble, you’ll come with us.”

Ben looked back helplessly at his new wife as he was led away.

“Ben!” Rey screamed in horror as she watched.

“Don’t worry, Sweetheart!  I’ll be back for you, I promise.”

Rey rose up out of her seat to chase after him, but she was restrained by the remaining guards. “I love you!” She called after him.

Ben’s head jerked upright as he called back. “I love you, too.”

With tears in her eyes, Rey watched as her husband was dragged away to gods-know-where in the palace. She gave Leia a pleading look.

“We’ll get him back, I promise,” Leia reassured her. “I lost him once. I’m not losing him again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Let me apologize again for how long this update took. I basically froze, writing-wise because I had it in my head that their wedding night had to be "perfect", and it kept me from being able to finish this. I apologize if the smut isn't as hot as an 11-month break warrants, but at least the chapter is out there, and I hope/plan to get this fic rolling again. It also was a little difficult for me to continue with a post-TFA fic after I'd seen TLJ, as then I wanted to concentrate on writing post-TLJ content.
> 
> And on that note, I've drafted the first few chapters of a mulit-chapter post-TLJ fic (hint: I'm pro-Benporer), but I wanted to get at least a few more chapters of this one posted before I started posting that one. And the comments wondering where I was and if this fic was ever going to update was a huge motivation for me when, at times, I just wanted to put this on semi-permanent hiatus. You're all wonderful!


	18. Escape?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, Leia, and Poe plot to save Ben....and encounter an unexpected obstacle to their escape plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, Ben and Rey had their wedding night...only to have a damper put on things the next morning at brunch, when the palace cleaning staff discovered Ben's Kylo Ren mask that had been kicked under Rey's bed. Ben was taken prisoner (again), and Force suppression cuffs were placed back on both Ben and Rey.
> 
> Note: Given my infrequent updates, if you're a little hazy on what's happened in earlier chapters here (but remember the main gist of the plot), Chapter 12 would be a good one to do a quick skim through before reading this update, as certain elements that were introduced in that chapter become a lot more important in this chapter.

“What are we going to do?” Rey whispered, as the guards dragged her husband back into the palace.

Leia hadn’t taken her eyes off of the doors that her son, now a prisoner, had disappeared through. She answered with a measured voice, “We stake out the palace, figure out where they’re holding him, rescue him, and then we leave.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Poe muttered. “And if we could leave that easily, why didn’t we do it earlier? Heck, why don’t we do it now?”

“He’s my  _ husband _ !” Rey blurted out, glaring at Poe.

“And he’s my son,” Leia replied calmly.

“Why don’t we get ourselves out first, then come back with reinforcements to get him?” Poe whined.

The glare that Leia threw at Poe said everything.

“Fine,” Poe huffed. “We’ll get him out,  _ then _ we’ll leave.”

Leia stood up from the breakfast table. “Walk with me.” 

Rey popped out of her seat and scurried over to her new mother-in-law. 

“You too, Poe.” Leia motioned towards her pilot, “We’re going to all need to work together on this.”

Leia led the trio down the path into the palace gardens. “Rey,” she began, “Did Ben tell you what he planned to do during your wedding ceremony?”

“Get married?” Rey replied, confused at the question.

Smiling, Leia shook her head, “Well, yes, but that wasn’t the only thing that he did.”

“I don’t understand.”

Leia looked around to make sure that they weren’t being watched. “Just hold still and stand there for a minute.”

“Okay,” Rey simply stood there, not sure what to think.

“Hold out your wrist--the one with the Force suppressing cuff,” Leia instructed.

Rey did as she was told. She watched as Leia closed her eyes and appeared to enter a state of deep concentration, similar to when Rey would try to meditate. Rey felt...something. She wasn’t sure what, but she could tell that Leia was using the Force on her in some way. In fact, for the first time since she’d had the Force suppression cuff re-applied, Rey could swear that she could almost feel the Force, albeit quite muted. The feeling was similar to if someone were trying to poke her through a thick layer of padding or something. 

“What’s happening?” Poe asked.

“Shhhh!” Rey snapped. “Let her work.”

Leia grimaced, clearly momentarily distracted.

A few moments later, the dull poking feeling resumed. Suddenly, Rey felt a “pop”, making her feel dazed for a few seconds. She blinked her eyes a few times, and then she felt it--the Force. She could feel the Force again!

“General Organa…?” Rey rubbed the cuff on her wrist.

Leia smiled. “I told you, please, call me ‘Mom’, or at least ‘Leia.’”

Rey nodded, staring at the cuff. “Yes, but did you…?”

“Can you feel it now?” Leia asked.

“Yes,” she smiled. “How did you do it?”

“Ben taught me. Or at least, he passed his knowledge onto me.” Leia nodded. “While you were both uncuffed during your wedding ceremony, he somehow managed to transmit his knowledge of how these cuffs worked and how to disable them to me; I simply had to recall what he’d shown me and just apply it.”

“Wow,” Rey began to smile. “I sort of had my introduction to how to perform a Jedi mind trick the same way from him.”

Poe crossed his arms. “Okay, that’s great. But we still have these.” He pointed to the GPS cuff on his wrist.

Leia raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you think that those are going to be a problem?” Leia raised her eyebrows. “Can I see your wrist?”

Poe extended his wrist to Leia, who took it in her hands and closed her eyes in concentration again. After a minute, the cuff beeped, and its red indicator light turned off.

“That’s it?” Poe asked.

“That’s it,” Leia nodded. “Rey, would you like me to take care of yours?

“Yes, please,” she held out her wrist.

Within minutes, the GPS bracelets on the trio had all been disarmed.

“Now what?” Poe asked. “So, we can wander around a bit without getting our arms blown off, but won’t Prana’s security notice the signal from our bracelets missing?”

Leia shook her head. “The bracelets only trigger a warning if the bracelet itself is detected outside of the boundaries where we’re supposed to stay. Prana has half of the ‘residents’ of the palace wearing these things; there are far too many people for his security staff to track to keep an eye on the movements of individuals.”

“Good, good,” Poe rubbed his hands together. “This could work.” He paused. “But even without the GPS bracelets, we can’t simply walk into King Prana’s jail, or wherever it is that they’re keeping Ben.”

Rey’s face lit up. “There’s a series of tunnels that run under the palace that don’t sound like they get used very much. Maybe we can use those!”

Leia turned to Rey with raised eyebrows. “Really?  And how did you find out about those?”

“Um, I guess Ben used to go down there with Regina to drink and smoke weed,” Rey blushed.

Leia rolled her eyes. “Of course. I should have known. Well, I guess Regina was good for  _ something _ , at least.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as that,” Rey grinned.

“Okay, so the next thing we need to do is figure out where they’re keeping Ben,” Leia said.

“Let me try something.” Rey closed her eyes and concentrated. She reached out, trying to sense Ben, not having any idea if the Force suppression cuff would completely dampen his Force signature or not. She felt...something. It was faint, but it was undeniably Ben. Perhaps his Force signature was so strong that not even the cuff could completely blot it out. “There…” Rey murmured. “I can feel him--just faintly, but he’s there, and he’s being held somewhere inside the palace.”

Leia’s face lit up. “Rey, that’s fantastic!” In an unusual display, she grabbed her daughter-in-law by the shoulders and embraced her. “Let’s try to go about our day as normally as possible, given the circumstances. We’ll meet up tonight after things quiet down a bit and see if those tunnels can lead us to Ben.”

 

***

Rey had found dinner that night to be a particularly painful experience, with King Prana acting like nothing had happened, beyond occasionally shooting an icy glare towards his daughter. Her nervousness about Ben and the King’s attitude towards her helped Rey lose her appetite--a rare occurrence for her, and she’d barely been able to stomach eating a few bites of her meal. Leia had fared slightly better--as her diplomatic training had prepared her to make small talk in even extremely awkward situations, while Poe had simply glared at his plate through most of dinner.

Later that evening, the trio quietly slipped down to the corridors that ran beneath the palace. They walked cautiously through the darkened passageways as Rey tried to use the Force to follow Kylo’s faint Force signature. Oblivious to everything else, Rey almost didn’t notice that Leia was no longer keeping up with them, and instead was staring at something mounted on the wall near the ceiling.

“Rey?” Leia called out.

“Hmmm?” Rey shuffled to a stop and turned around. Leia was at least twenty paces behind. “Is something wrong?”

“When you were down here earlier, did Ben or Regina say anything about these little metal balls that are anchored to the walls?”

“No,” Rey shook her head. “Do you know what they are? I thought that they almost looked like thermal detonators.”

“I’m pretty sure that they  _ are _ thermal detonators,” Leia said warily.

Poe whirled around to look at the General. “Thermal detonators? Why would the passageways under the palace be lined with thermal detonators?”

Leia answered without taking her eyes off of the metal ball that she had been staring at. “I don’t know.  Security? We’ve witnessed first-hand how paranoid King Prana is."

“Yeah, but even for security…  If King Prana decided to blow those things, he’d take out half the palace,” Poe frowned.

“I know…” Leia’s voice trailed off as she began following them again. “Half the palace,  _ at least _ …”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to keep your people in line. Let them know that they’re living on top of a field of thermal detonators,” Poe quipped.

“I’m not so sure that the people living in the palace know about this,” Leia murmured, glancing up at another detonator as she passed under it.

They approached a T-intersection in the corridor. Rey pressed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. She stopped walking.

“Everything okay?” Poe asked.

Rey nodded. “I’m just trying to feel for Ben. I need to concentrate.” She squeezed her eyes shut for emphasis.

Poe and Leia hung back and waited for Rey to give some indication that she’d picked Ben’s signature back up. 

Suddenly, Rey threw her hand to the right. “He’s down this way!” 

Excitedly, Rey quickly headed in the direction that she had pointed towards. Leia took one last look at the thermal detonator she had been staring at and hurried off after her, leaving Poe to follow them both. 

The corridor wound around and around and up and down multiple flights of stairs. Rey would have assumed that she had gotten the three of them lost, if she wasn’t so convinced of Ben’s Force signature, which guided her along as if she were being pulled by a string. 

“Are you sure that you know where you’re going?” Poe called out from behind her.

“I’m sure!” Rey called back without even turning around.

Finally, Rey stopped in front of a large sealed door. She tried pushing on and sliding the door over, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Want me to help?” Poe asked.

“No, I've got this.” Rey closed her eyes and concentrated. 

“Shouldn’t you check for, you know, guards or something on the other side of the door to make sure that we’re not going to get shot as soon as you get it open?”

“I already checked,” Rey replied flatly.

Rey reached out with the Force, sensing how the door was sealed into place, then used the Force to deactivate the locking mechanisms and slid the door out of the way. 

Cautiously, Rey poked her head through the doorway; while she had been certain that there were no living beings directly on the other side of the door, she really had no idea what was on the other side of the door. When she could clearly see that the room truly was void of all sentient or droid beings, she exhaled and stepped inside. The room was long and narrow and appeared to be some sort of surveillance control room with several desks of computer monitors and other equipment lining one of the walls. The monitors were, in fact, turned on and were showing the views from various cameras positioned throughout the palace. Another door was located at the far end of the room.

“Well, I guess that explains why no one has come after us,” Poe commented, surveying the monitor screens and motioning to the otherwise-empty room.

“I guess so,” Rey shrugged.

Leia frowned. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” She shook her head. “But let’s keep going. The longer that we stick around here, the greater our chances are of getting caught.”

Rey continued to the door at the other end of the room. She touched the door and paused, looking to Leia and Poe for guidance. “I can sense people on the other side of this door.”

“Can’t you just mind-trick them into thinking that they didn’t see us?” Poe asked.

“I can try. I’ve never used the mind trick on more than one person, though.”

“General, what about you?  Can you, you know, use the Force on them?”

Leia sighed. “Luke taught me a few basic things, and obviously, earlier, Ben transmitted the skills I needed to disable the GPS and Force suppression cuffs, but I don’t know much beyond that.”

“I really wish I had my blaster,” Poe mumbled. He glanced at Rey, “Just go for it. It’s now or never.”

Rey nodded and unlocked the door using the Force. Carefully, she slid the door open, bracing herself for whatever might be on the other side. She heard the voice before she saw the face behind it.

“You there! What are you doing here?” 

Rey braced herself for a confrontation as she peeked beyond the door frame. She then exhaled a sigh of relief as she found only one lone guard on the other side of the opening.

She steadied her voice before commanding, “You did not see us here. You have the rest of the night off and are going home to spend it with your family.”

The guard repeated back to her in a monotone, “I did not see you here. I have the rest of the night off and am going home to spend it with my family.”

With that, the guard nodded at Rey and walked through the doorway and past Leia and Poe, not even acknowledging her two companions. After watching him leave, Rey took a minute to survey her new surroundings. No wonder Ben’s Force signature had gotten so strong--the door had opened into some sort of a cell block. She could feel the presence of at least a dozen other beings behind locked doors as she walked down the cell block corridor, trying to determine which cell contained her husband.

There. She was fairly sure that he was behind a nondescript cell door about two-thirds of the way down the cell block. With Leia and Poe behind her, Rey pursed her lips and concentrated as hard as she could on figuring out the locking mechanism on the door and deactivating it. She held her breath as the door slid open.

“Ben!”

Her husband lay on his back on a bench in his cell, staring up at the ceiling. As soon as he heard Rey’s voice, he bolted upright. “Rey?”

Rey rushed into the cell, throwing herself into Ben’s arms. She nuzzled her face into his neck for a few moments before speaking. “Did they hurt you?”

“No,” he rubbed her back as they embraced. “They asked a lot of questions, but I got the feeling that the torture part was going to come later.” 

Ben gently nudged Rey to allow himself to stand up, where he faced his mother and Poe, who were both staring at him.

“Thank you, Ben,” Leia began. “That was fast thinking at your wedding ceremony, and it probably saved us all a world of hurt.”

“So it worked?”

“It worked,” Leia nodded. “That’s why we’re here right now. Ben, hold out your wrist.”

Ben did as his mother instructed. Rey watched as the Force suppression cuff fell off. Rubbing his wrist, Ben closed his eyes and powered off the GPS cuff himself. “Thanks, mom,” he grinned.

Poe looked around nervously. “Okay, now that we’ve got everyone back together, let’s not stick around here waiting to get caught.”

“Good idea. Let’s get going,” Leia gestured for Ben and Rey to follow her out of the cell.

Poe looks around the cell block. “There has to be a faster way out of here.”

“There might be,” Leia points out, “but we’re far more likely to get away undetected if we use the tunnels and go back the way that we came.”

“Good point.”

The group spent the next twenty minutes winding its way back through the underground passageways that had led them to the cell block. Eventually, they emerged back through the door near the ballroom that they had originally entered earlier that evening. However, unlike the relative quiet that they’d encountered when they’d entered the passageway, the foyer area was bustingly with palace guards and residents as they exited the passage. Fortunately, their attention appeared to be directed elsewhere, and no one seemed to notice the foursome as they slipped out through the door.

“What’s going on?” Rey whispered.

Ben shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“At least the chaos should make it easier for us to escape,” Leia pointed out. She gestured for Poe, Ben, and Rey to follow her, as she walked quickly towards the palace doors.

They made their way out of the palace, now with only the palace walls and gate standing between them and a clear escape route to their ship. The night sky felt much brighter than Rey was expecting. She looked up and gasped.

Poe looked up at the same time. “Uh-oh. That’s not good.”

Ben looked up and clenched his hands into fists.

In the sky above them, a star destroyer was clearly visible, and numerous First Order transports were making their way down from the destroyer towards the palace on Rinou.

“We need to leave  _ now _ ,”  Leia urged.

A voice behind them stopped the foursome in their tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At least I only took a little over a month to update this time, instead of 11 months, right? We're nearing the climax of the story here. Depending on how my writing paces out, I think we're looking at about 4-5 more chapters.
> 
> Thank you for hanging in there and staying with this fic, even with my erratic update schedule (or lack of schedule)!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This first chapter might be a little slow, but I promise that things pick up pretty quickly. Let me know what you think--all comments are greatly appreciated!


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